Part 2/17:
He humorously notes that even a 300-page technical manual—like "Mastering Bitcoin"—only begins to unravel the depths of what Bitcoin truly is. This is because Bitcoin is both a disruptor of traditional finance and an abstraction built upon millennia-old concepts of money, making it inherently difficult to grasp without rethinking foundational ideas.
Money: An Ancient, Mysterious Technology
To better understand Bitcoin, the speaker takes us on a journey through the history of money. Money, he points out, is arguably older than history itself. It predates writing, with early forms of money including beads, feathers, shells, and even giant stones—objects used as tokens to exchange goods and services.