The world of decentralized finance, cryptocurrencies, and blockchains has changed dramatically since I wrote my first book, Crypto Asset Investing in the Age of Autonomy, in 2019. When I was researching and writing that book, you could still buy a bitcoin for less than $11,000, and most people had never heard of an NFT, much less the metaverse. The years since then have seen exponential growth in crypto projects, fans, and naysayers. My fund has expanded as well and this time I'm collaborating with my business partner, James Diorio, to bring you something a little bit different.

For those of you who are familiar with Crypto Asset Investing in the Age of Autonomy, we will touch on these concepts and also some of the fundamentals for the first‐time reader. That book, however, was primarily about establishing the foundational thesis and providing a general broad perspective about how to build a crypto portfolio. We've written this book with a slightly different goal, particularly that of understanding – we noticed that there are plenty of books that discuss how, but often without real context of the why. To that end, this work will provide investors as well as the curious amateur with an in‐depth understanding of blockchain, crypto, and emerging digital assets like NFTs and, importantly, why they are so important (the breakthrough). We will also clear up common misconceptions about blockchain and crypto (the myths) and, ultimately, walk the reader through the essentials of making crypto a profitable and reliable instrument in savings, retirement planning, and active and passive investing activities (the foundations for investing).

It's easy to mistake bitcoin and other digital assets as just another new investment opportunity. Yes, it is that – but it's so much more. It's really the beginning of an entirely new economic infrastructure and technological foundation. We are eager to share not only our knowledge of this emerging technology and economy, but a vision of how it can be used to improve people's lives.

These benefits are not just about making crypto millionaires. What if a Venezuelan struggling with a 2,719% inflation rate could put money into a cryptocurrency account to protect themselves from hyperinflation? Or a musician could sell a fraction of a digital music file and receive royalties every time their song was resold?

Wishful thinking? Not at all. It already exists. The technology is there, and the marketplace is already forming around it. And those are just two examples of a fascinating new world that blockchain makes possible. After reading this book you will understand the innovation, properties, and promise of crypto in all of its many manifestations.

Is investing in crypto scary? Yes. But what's scarier is continuing to use financial infrastructure that requires trust to complete a transaction. If you have to trust a bank or a counterparty to complete a transaction, you're taking on invisible risk that you no longer need to. When people get a taste of being able to use public financial infrastructure that is trustless, that doesn't require trust to complete a transaction, they're never going to want to go back to trust‐required financial infrastructure. Just ask anyone from Lehman Brothers to Bear Stearns to MF Global to the Cyprus Bank to BlockFi to FTX to Celsius. Investors and customers alike all either had to go through a bankruptcy process or are currently in line with a bankruptcy process to try and get their pennies on a dollar.

Once crypto and blockchain technology is really understood by the public, everyone is going to want to use trust‐minimized, peer‐to‐peer public financial infrastructure to complete their economic transactions – that's what this whole crypto revolution is about. Removing counterparty risk. Removing the middleman. Removing the guy you have to trust with your money. Let's end this and build an economy that's transparent and can grow on sound money principles. That's what this is all about.

We've written this book to provide both serious investors and the curious amateur with an in‐depth understanding of crypto foundations and emerging assets like NFTs and to clear up common misconceptions about crypto. Most of all, the book walks the reader through the essentials of making crypto a profitable and reliable instrument in savings, retirement planning, and active and passive investing activities.

We will provide factual, informed, razor‐sharp analysis of blockchain and cryptocurrency and other crypto assets and explore their value to the investor and the economy at large. We will acknowledge where risks lie, how to get started safely, and will debunk the unfounded myths around crypto. We'll look at crypto history, its place in the economy, unpack the fundamentals of this technology and, drawing on facts, lay out the details you can use. No pom‐poms. No gibberish. No jargon.

A word about style. As two of us are writing this, you, as the reader, will get well‐rounded insights. We each have had our own experiences and you'll find storytelling throughout. So, when you see a reference to a personal experience it might be Jake, it might be James. For readability we don't distinguish who the writer is, because that's not what is important. What is important is that the concepts have been delivered in a way that makes sense to you, and that both of us are of a common thought process on the content you'll find inside.

We'll tell you why these financial innovations matter to the world and to you. We'll share a huge basket of developing opportunities as this new world of money evolves. Now, let's go!