Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon

Bitcoin is the world's first cryptocurrency, created in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto.” Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that operates on a peer-to-peer network, allowing for secure and direct transactions without the need for intermediaries. Lewis discusses Bitcoin to illustrate the origins of the cryptocurrency industry, contrasting the ideals of Satoshi with the realities of the current crypto industry. It is ironic that while crypto was originally conceived as an alternative to traditional institutions and as a way of moving money that would not require trust in centralized authorities, crypto, as an industry, actually requires a great amount of trust in various centralized exchanges and platforms.

In finance, a commodity is a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as gold, oil, or wheat. Regulatory agencies debate whether cryptocurrencies should be classified as commodities. Lewis notes that, “a bit oddly, the older the [crypto] coin, the more people thought of it as a commodity” (146).

Alameda Research was a crypto quant trading firm, specializing in algorithmic trading strategies in the cryptocurrency market. Quant trading, short for quantitative trading, refers to the use of mathematical and statistical models to make trading decisions.