Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond

Cryptoasets: The Innovative Investor's Guide, provides a clear, concise overview of a rapidly emerging market and group of tools that will impact our lives for the better. Context is everything. I am not a professional trader or investor. Prior to getting involved with cryptoassets, I wasn't even remotely a hobby trader. I contributed to my retirement through work in typical mostly hands-off ways i.e 401k or mutual funds. I got involved with Bitcoin because I liked the technology and the societal implications. Once that hooked me, I had to figure out how to put that interest to use. That is where Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar come in with Cryptoassets. The authors provide a timely description of the investing landscape without turning over every stone or looking behind every tree. They paint with broad brush strokes using various cryptoassets to articulate a point. Without getting bogged down in too many details that change quickly in cryptomarkets, they filled in significant knowledge gaps and helped me understand how much I did not know about investing or how cryptoassets compare to conventional assets. There is a place for the highly technical description of cryptoassets or investing. That is not this book. The authors start with a brief historical overview, beginning with the 2008 financial crisis, providing a narrative baseline that helps make Bitcoin and all the cryptoassets that came after, make sense. The description of the technical aspects is not too complicated, while providing a clear solid description of what blockchain is and why it matters as an innovative leap forward. When discussing Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Golem, etc. many people default to calling these assets "coins" or "cryptocurrency". The authors do not do this. I think, one of the key points they bring to the discussion is that cryptoassets are not simply currency. Cryptoassets include currencies, along with commodities, and tokens. As the market matures understanding this will become more important. The distinction the authors make by focusing on assets verses currency also helps as they move through the topic of investing and how to determine the merit of one asset type over another. For someone who has not followed the development of cryptoassets from 2009 to the present, the description of how cryptoassets have been received by the traditional investing community and the US government, was particularly useful. It provides a picture of how developed the market is and what needs to happen for the market to continue mature relative to existing practices. As a prior hands-off/non-investor the discussion of financial tools like exchange traded funds (ETF), or the recent development of initial coin offerings, or initial cryptoassets offering, (ICO) and the current government perception of taxing cryptoassets was all very helpful. Most likely, cryptoassets will transform investing more than they already have. The book suggests possible ways this might play out without being overly rigid with assumptions. Practical overviews of exchanges, wallets, mining, were also helpful. There is an inherent limitation in discussing these subjects. The technical aspect can easily get mired down in quickly changing minutia, which is not the point or strength of this book. The authors also address the merit of cryptoassts as an asset class. They provide a defense of cryptoassets and, by comparison show how cryptoassets differ from money making schemes and fraudulent ways of separating people from their money. That is not to say no cryptoassets are scams. Like with fiat currency, scams exist within the crypto world. Cryptoassets are not inherently a scam. In fact, they offer many benefits. Although I was already convinced of the value of cryptoassets, these sections strengthened my own understanding and ability to talk with other people. I've ordered and read several books on cryptoassets. This book is easily one of the best places for a beginner or dabbler to start growing their understanding of cryptoassets and investing. It does an excellent job of introducing both. It should be in any crypto-investor's library. I hope as the market and technology develop this book is updated in order to remain current. As of early 2018 it is still quite relevant. I bought the Kindle, Audible, and hardcover versions. The Audible narrator, Dave Clark, made the sections I listened to easy to follow. I would listen to him again without reservation.

“Bitcoin is stupid. It’s fake money made up by your Silicon Valley friends.” That’s from an argument I had with someone who asked me about bitcoin when bitcoin was below $1000. These days, I’d just hand over a copy of this book. Whether you’re a traditional investor, a non-investor who’s interested in bitcoin, or an experienced financial professional who isn’t yet familiar with cryptocurrency, read “Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor’s Guide.” It’s not only for investors—it’s for anyone who wants to learn more about cryptocurrency and blockchain. Chris Berniske and Jack Tatar do an excellent job telling the story behind many cryptocurrencies. They discuss blockchain, portfolio management, “ICOs”, and emerging tax and securities regulation. “If you miss a day in crypto it’s like missing a year,” people in the crypto space say. That’s why it’s so challenging to write a book about blockchain and cryptocurrency. Berniske and Tatar have succeeded in creating something valuable. “Chris and Jack’s Go-To Crypto Resources,” chapter at the end of “Cryptoassets” compiles news, education sites, and trader tools you can use to keep up to date after you finish the book. If you’ve been in crypto for a while, this may be a review. If you’re new, you’ll gain valuable insight into investing in this space, which is very much the “Wild West.” You’ll learn to spot quality cryptoassets, recognize hype and avoid fraud, and responsibly balance your investment portfolio with this emerging asset class. Whether you’re an investor in cryptocurrency or not, chances are it’ll be disrupting a vertical near you. Many traditional investors have rejected cryptoassets. Berniske and Tatar make the argument that you should not.

I enjoyed this book because it improved my understanding of crypto assets from the perspective of institutional participants (like financial advisors, hedge-fund managers and the bankers). Try having a conversation with your financial advisor by using crypto-centric terminology like “proof of work”, “hard fork changes”, “hash rate processing power”, “full node network validation” and so on and so forth. The likelihood of aligning with your financial advisor on how to incorporate these new opportunities into your investment strategy, is low to none. This book does a great job of contrasting crypto assets with other traditional asset classes, through the lens of familiar investment concepts; like modern portfolio theory, diversification and dollar cost averaging. Using an appropriate framework (more familiar to the traditional world of finance) will facilitate a more serious consideration of crypto, hopefully, driving mainstream adoption.

Very well-written and researched overview of the blockchain technology. The logic of a system as such, given what happen in 2008 and the actions which led to the perils so many still suffer from today (2018), will impact the transfer of assets for the next century. Will cryptocurrencies survive? Who knows, but read this book and you will begin to understand why Fortune 500 companies and beyond are investing billions in blockchain technologies. This book, conceptually, is an Austrian/Keynesian or free market/central bank, compendium for a revolutionary technology.

This is by far the most intelligent book I’ve read on investing in cryptocurrency. It applies the standards for evaluating all other investments to the cryptocurrency asset class. I suspect many investors will learn something about investing in general as well as how to apply it to cryptocurrency. My only criticism is that the book’s view of cryptocurrency doesn’t include an interesting class of tokens focused on exchange for assets (and to some extent being asset-backed). I own several of those currencies and don’t find that the book’s approach to evaluating the cryptocurrency applies. Maybe that will be addressed in future editions. There should be future editions of this book. The book cuts off at the beginning of January 2017 and we all know the explosion in cryptocurrency since then. I hope the authors revise and extend the book using their sound methodology so it doesn’t go too far out of date. We need more books like this with good investment advice and no hype.

By using the term "cryptoassets," the authors provide a better description of these new products that vary significantly in their use, purpose, design, and attributes. Many people who are only familiar with bitcoin can be confused by the term "cryptocurrency," as many so-called cryptocurrencies do not operate like an actual currency--they actually operate like something completely different. Also, the prose is very understandable. And there is just enough history to be understandable and not boring. Nice one!

An interesting but very surface exposition of the subject matter. Basically, way too little technical depth on bitcoin and other coin, asset and service layers. WAY to little detail on block chain and exactly how the proof of work concept works and how miners are involved and compete. Worth a read but be prepared to go to other, deeper dive works to have a real working knowledge of the subject matter.

Great book on crypto. It will give you information on the history of several cryptocurrencies, how the technology works, what’s possibly in the future for cryptocurrency and what to consider when investing. Most valuable to me is their fundamental analysis system for cryptoassets and the framework for valueing ico’s. Technical analysis is only slightly covered: support, resistance, simple moving average and volume. They also cover topics such as exchanges and storing your crypto. If you are looking for a fundamental analysis system and more info on crypto before you get in, this is a book for you. If you are looking to get better at reading price charts and using technical analysis however, there are other books to consider.