[PRIMER] The best story of crypto the world has never seen

The best way to read The Crypto Story by Matt Levine is to listen to it.

Sep 02, 2023

(Originally posted on Twitter on August 26, 2023)

Matt Levine wrote the best story of crypto the world has ever seen and I'm sure 95% of you didn't read it. Why? It felt too damn long. 1 magazine = 40K words = 133 pages. This thing was a novel.

But as a podcast? 5 hrs = ~1 week of commutes. And I found every episode.

If you care about fintech in any way (even if you don't care for crypto), you need to read/listen to this story. From the man himself: "My goal is to convince you that crypto is interesting, that it has found some new things to say about some old problems"

I will admit one thing. I know Matt is the goat, but normally Money Stuff feels... rambling? Every newsletter is an essay. What I love about The Crypto Story is it's so concise for what it covers. It's so well edited that it's only as long as it needs to be.

So Bloomberg's Crypto podcast made The Crypto Story into a series read by a voice actor who is also a Bloomberg editor (now I'm convinced it's how Matt Levine sounds in real life).

“The Crypto Story by Matt Levine” from Bloomberg Businessweek

"The Crypto Story by Matt Levine: Part 1"

Section 1 - Ledgers, Bitcoin, Blockchains

A. Life in Databases
B. What If You Don't Like It?
C. Digital Cash
- (Digression i/ii)

Best quote: "What if there was one database, and everyone ran it?"

"The Crypto Story by Matt Levine: Part 2"

Section 1 - Ledgers, Bitcoin, Blockchains (continued)

C. Digital Cash
- iii. Digression iii
- iv. How Bitcoin works
- v. Oh, the blockchain
- vi. Mining

Best quote: "Imagine if keeping your car idling 24/7 produced solved Sudokus you could trade for heroin."

"The Crypto Story by Matt Levine: Part 3"

Section 2 - What Does it Mean?

A. A Store of Value
B. A Distributed Computer
- i. Ethereum
- ii. Proof of stake
- iii. Gas
- iv. Tokens

Best quote: "The thing about Bitcoin is... people accepted numbers as payments."

"The Crypto Story by Matt Levine: Part 4"

Section 2 - What Does it Mean? (continued)

B. A Distributed Computer
- v. An ICO
- vi. Other chains
C. A Slow Database
D. Web3
E. Uncensorable Ledgers
F. Digital Scarcity

Best quote: "Every web3 project is simultaneously a Ponzi."

"The Crypto Story by Matt Levine: Part 5"

Section 3 - The Crypto Financial System

A. Your Keys, Your Coins, Your Hard Drive in a Garbage Dump
B. CeFi
C. Stablecoins

Best quote: "The stablecoin thing is nothing new. It’s just banking"

"The Crypto Story by Matt Levine: Part 6"

Section 3 - The Crypto Financial System (continued)

D. DeFi
E. Reinventing 2008

Best quote: "In 2022 the crypto financial system rediscovered what the traditional system had discovered in 2008... that real systemic risk is in the safest assets."