We planned on posting this guide at a future date, but @Scoresby's post
and @Solomonsatoshi 's research inspired us to do some digging. Here is what we know so far:
Neptune's Brood, published by Charles Stross in 2013, is possibly the earliest example of a novel by a major publisher that uses the word bitcoin. The book was a Hugo Award finalist for Best Novel in 2014. The bitcoin community quickly noticed, with discussions taking place on the Bitcointalk forum in July of 2013.
In September 2014 Stross said he wrote the novel in 2011, when bitcoin was obscure. The name had just enough recognition to tell readers his currency was networked and digital. By publication in July 2013, Bitcoin was everywhere, so readers assumed he meant the actual coin. Stross compared it to writing a near future novel in 2004 with a phone called an "iPhone" not made by Apple.
His own explanation of the "slow money" described in the book compares it to David Chaum's Digicash, not bitcoin: every transaction must be countersigned by a trusted bank in a third star system, so settlement crawls at about a third of light speed. It has no mining and no decentralized ledger.
Stross published a blog post called "Why I want Bitcoin To Die In A Fire" on December 18, 2013. At some point thereafter, he removed every reference to bitcoin in the text of subsequent editions. See the Publishing History table below for more information:
Here is what we know so far:
| # | First edition hardcover (2013) | Ace mass-market paperback (2014) | |
| 1 | p. 109: each bitcoin is cryptographically signed by the mind of its owner | p. 113: each cryptocoin | |
| 2 | p. 110: your signed bitcoins | p. 114: your signed cryptocoins | |
| 3 | p. 110: the bitcoin algorithm used to prime issuing banks | p. 114: the cryptocoin algorithm | |
| 4 | p. 193: a bitcoinage, generated algorithmically | p. 201: a cryptocurrency, generated algorithmically | : |
There are gaps in our research. Please contact us if you discover additional information. We are assuming that editions published after July of 2014 have had any reference to bitcoin removed, but we will make efforts to verify that.
We have a few copies of Neptune’s Brood for sale now, including a first edition. We will add more to our stock soon.
If you order on Satwize, is there a way to tell whether you're getting a 1st edition or another edition?
Anyway, I get why he wouldn't want a scifi currency to be associated with a real world currency. But changing it from "bitcoin" to "cryptocoin" imo makes the negative associations even worse. Even normies with even a vague understanding of the crypto world know that bitcoin is the "most" legitimate, and most "crypto" are scams.
Yes. All first editions contain the bitcoin references. The paperback we have listed DOES NOT mention bitcoin, as the table indicates. We will more clearly label that today. We will soon be listing a 2013 hardcover, not a first edition, that DOES contain the reference.
If anyone has any issues, you can message us here, on nostr, or email us at admin@satwize.com.
Regarding his reasoning, he makes it clear that he does not support a decentralized coin:
He wants government control and a flexible supply.
never read the book, but i wonder if he viewed "trusted bank in a third star system" and "crawls at a third of light speed" and "no decentralized ledger" as good things, or just descriptive things
pretty sure he'd view "no mining" as a good thing, though.
I guess we don't need to wonder what he thinks of bitcoin, since he wants it to "die in a fire." 😀
https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/12/why-i-want-bitcoin-to-die-in-a.html
I did not know about his blog post! Great find.
To be honest, I think he gets it -- he just doesn't like it.
Exactly
I don't think I have ever seen the term bitcoinage before?
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