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Nathaniel Popper is a writer and producer unearthing stories about technology and money.
His next book tells the story of the generation of young men who became obsessed with money and trading through Reddit and Robinhood. It will be published in 2023 by Dey Street Books, an imprint of Harper Collins. He is also working on several film, television and podcast projects related to the book and other stories he has written and researched. He covered the worlds of Wall Street and Silicon Valley for The New York Times for nearly a decade, dividing his time between New York City and the Bay Area. He regularly wrote for different sections of the newspaper, including The New York Times Magazine, and also appeared on the paper's morning podcast, The Daily. While at the Times, he wrote Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money. The 2015 book told the origin story of Bitcoin and was an Amazon Editor's Pick as well as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. It was a shortlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year award. He helped explain the technical and human details of Bitcoin in the Netflix documentary Banking on Bitcoin, on Fresh Air with Terri Gross, and in many other publications and appearances on radio and television. He hosted and produced a documentary series for TechCrunch, Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin and the Blockchain. He began writing about Bitcoin in 2013, when he wrote the first article that outed the Winklevoss twins as major holders of Bitcoin. Since then he has written about all facets of the new world created by Bitcoin, including the energy intensive world of cryptocurrency mining in China and Iceland; the rise of alternative cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Ripple; the perils of lost Bitcoin passwords; the specter of ransomware and dark net drug markets; and the digital currency ambitions of China, Venezuela and Facebook. In addition to his coverage of cryptocurrencies, he broke stories for The New York Times about everything from the high frequency traders taking over Wall Street to the damaging cybersecurity intrusions that rocked Silicon Valley. In 2018, he was the first person to identify and speak with the young hackers who brought down Twitter. He and his work were featured in a documentary about the incident, The Teenager Who Hacked Twitter, a production of The New York Times Presents on Hulu. Before joining The New York Times he worked at the Los Angeles Times and the Forward, where he wrote about everything from kosher meat to professional poker players. He grew up in Pittsburgh and lives in Oakland, California with his wife and two children. |
Digital Gold, a history of Bitcoin and the blockchain, is available in paperback. Order it from Amazon or IndieBound. Digital Gold was reviewed in The New York Times, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Bookforum, and Quartz, among other places. |
PRAISE FOR DIGITAL GOLD
"Necessary reading" -BETHANY MCLEAN, New York Times Book Review "So, yes, it’s a totally awesome book" -JUSTIN FOX, Bloomberg "Digital Gold is as strong a narrative achievement as a reporting one" -CHRIS WILSON, Bookforum "This excellent work is the book on Bitcoin you’ve been waiting for" -TYLER COWEN, Marginal Revolution “An amazing story... Popper has produced a riveting tale filled with colorful innovators that is crucial reading for anyone who wants to understand the future.” - WALTER ISAACSON, author of The Innovators and Steve Jobs “Bitcoin may be a product of computer science, but it is a very human story... This highly entertaining history reminds us yet again that truth can be stranger than fiction." - LARRY SUMMERS, former Secretary of the Treasury "Finally, the book so many of us have been waiting for: A riveting and smart account of the strange history of Bitcoin" -ADAM DAVIDSON, co-founder of NPR's Planet Money. |
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