Book review for Moral Money: The Case for Bitcoin by Eric Sammons
Book review for Moral Money: The Case for Bitcoin by Eric Sammons
Ok, this will be a short review because for an experienced Bitcoiner, there isn't too much to say. This is a good book. In my opinion, it takes the correct approach to orange pilling. It starts with the why of Bitcoin---and not from the perspective of why Bitcoin is good for you as an individual, but why Bitcoin is good for society. By doing so, Sammons elevates the conversation beyond simplistic number-go-up thinking---which many critics think is the only purpose of Bitcoin---and directs the reader to the sound money principles that motivate the Bitcoin community. Although Sammons approaches Bitcoin from an explicitly Roman Catholic perspective, the moral principles he focuses on should be agreeable to most faith traditions and secular systems of ethics. For example, he says that a money is immoral if a small group of people can control it for their own benefit at the expense of others. Who would disagree with that?
Eight principles of moral money
The book is a highly organized and logical introduction to why Bitcoin is a morally superior form of money. Chapter 1 starts by laying out eight moral principles that good money should satisfy:
- Theft of someone's purchasing power is always condemned
- We have a right to the fruits of our labor
- Workers should receive a just wage
- Economies should have a stable currency
- Temperance should be encouraged
- Excessive consumption should be discouraged
- Parents must be able to provide for their families
- Societies should care for the poor
Most people would find these principles broadly agreeable, though some may quibble with the definition of a "just wage" or "excessive consumption", or the extent to which the poor is society's responsibility. Still, social voting patterns suggest that these principles are not controversial and are held by a large majority of voters, both religious and secular.
Seven properties of moral money
Chapter 2 goes on to list seven properties of money which would help satisfy the above moral principles:
- Money should be divisible
- Money should be portable
- Money should be durable
- Money should be fungible
- Money should be verifiable
- Money should be scarce
- Money should be independent
Sammons connects these properties to the aforementioned eight moral principles. For example, he explains how money which is not scarce and not independent (e.g. money that can be printed) discourages temperance and encourages excessive consumption. This is because holders of the money cannot trust that the money won't be devalued in the future, and are thus incentivized to spend the money now. This is all pretty well-trod ground for Bitcoiners, but Sammons presents his arguments in a clear, logical manner that should be accessible even for people with little prior exposure to Bitcoin.
The rest of the book is devoted to comparing different systems of money: physical commodity money, fiat money, and Bitcoin, along the above properties. Spoiler alert: it is determined that commodity money fails on portability and to some degree scarcity and independence, whereas fiat money fails on verifiability, scarcity, and independence. By comparison, Bitcoin satifies all seven properties. Again, this won't come as a surprise to anyone who's studied Bitcoin for a long time, but it may be eye opening for someone who hasn't.
Addressing objections and assessing crypto
My two favorite chapters in the book are one that addresses objections to Bitcoin and the one that assesses other cryptocurrencies. The chapter on objections offers responses to many of the common criticisms of Bitcoin, such as how it's too volatile to be used as a money, its environmental impact, and its usage by criminals. The arguments that Sammons gives in response to these objections are all pretty standard, but it's good to have them all in one place for someone who wants to defend Bitcoin against its critics. It's also useful if you haven't seen some of these arguments before.
The chapter on cryptocurrency is helpful because Sammons is willing to steel-man the use case of some cryptos, while not being shy to label others as outright scams. Sammons classifies cryptos into the following categories: attempted forms of money, stablecoins, technology projects, memecoins/scams, and CBDCs.
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Attempted forms of money
- These include bitcoin spinoffs like Litecoin and DASH. These were attempted improvements to the Bitcoin protocol, but Sammons argues that Bitcoin's network effect will keep Bitcoin dominant.
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Stablecoins
- Sammons rightly labels these as (in the best case scenario) a payment layer on top of fiat. Stablecoins therefore can't be considered a different form of money than fiat. Of course, in the worst case scenario these could also be outright frauds.
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Technology projects
- This is where Sammons puts projects like Ethereum, which aim to be more than just sound money. Sammons offers some criticisms of proof of stake, but because he doesn't see these projects as attempts at money, he doesn't spend too much time on them.
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Memecoins/scams
- Sammons acknowledges that many crypto projects are simply get rich quick schemes where the creators of a coin have no interest other than running quick pump and dumps or having a laugh.
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Central Bank Digital Currencies
- Lastly, Sammons criticizes CBDCs as even more immoral than traditional fiat, because they are even worse in terms of independence and scarcity. He highlights how the government will always be tempted to print more money, and if money is programmable, to even put a negative interest rate on the money so as to encourage profligate consumption.
I found the chapter on cryptocurrencies to be especially important for Bitcoin novices who haven't yet learned to distinguish between the various types of crypto projects. Given that I think this book's intended audience are no-coiners and pre-coiners, this was a crucial chapter to include.
Conclusion
Overall, I don't think experienced Bitcoiners will learn too much that is new. The principles of sound money espoused in this book are frequently discussed in the Bitcoin community, and I imagine that most of the readers here on Stacker.News are already quite familiar with them. What the book does best is to organize and communicate these principles in a logical, persuasive, and accessible manner. This is a book that you could consider gifting your pre-coin friends, especially if they have a Christian background.