May 18, 2025
Members of the book club arrived to find a hearty vegetarian soup waiting for them, accompanied by dark rye bread, spreads, and cold cuts. Portuguese cream puffs and strong coffee, made with a French press, were served for dessert. We were ready for a lively discussion.
The book today was Camila Russo’s “The Infinite Machine,” a 500-page book on the history of Ethereum, a computer platform written by a group of young, savvy coders. The platform serves as the base for the cryptocurrency coin ETH. The discussion began during the meal: Is cryptocurrency a legitimate form of currency? Does anyone in our group own Bitcoin or ETH? If you haven’t heard of ETH, you’re not alone—none of us have. The host selected this book to help us better understand this evolving field. As we went around the table, it became clear that none of us fully understood cryptocurrency, who was using it, or where it was headed.
Blockchain technology underpins Ethereum, a digital technology that we struggled to comprehend despite our best efforts to discuss it together. Based on this technology, Ethereum was the brainchild of Vitalik Buterin, a young Russian programmer who came to Toronto with his parents when he was six. He demonstrated a talent for mathematics at a young age. Later on, he studied computer science at the University of Waterloo before dedicating himself full-time to developing Ethereum. His success in spreading awareness about this digital technology has been phenomenal. Out of curiosity, I looked up Vitalik on the internet. I found that his reputed IQ is 257 and that he is a billionaire—a fantastic story.
Besides Vitalik, the author conducted meticulous research on the other coders who collaborated with Vitalik on the Ethereum project. I found their stories interesting because they are all brilliant characters with complex careers. A Netflix series could easily be created about them, detailing their successes and failures. However, the technological aspect was more challenging to comprehend.
As I understand it, this platform’s two main advantages are that it incurs no transaction fees and that there is no need for audits, as the system stores your “smart contracts” (money, documents, etc.) in secure “wallets” (cloud storage devices) that cannot be hacked. You could call this platform a digital ledger.
The first application running on the Ethereum platform was a new digital currency designed to replace traditional “fiat” currencies, essentially the paper money we use today, such as the US dollar. While this is an ambitious undertaking, I asked which retailers currently accept ETH as a form of payment. I am not aware of any stores that offer this service.
Some of our club members could not understand why these young people have worked on digital currencies for free for years. I brought up all the startup companies, the dot.coms, I worked with, where the young engineers worked day and night trying to implement their vision. Their passion was palpable, and I did not doubt that Vitalik and his partners were equally absorbed in their work.
The topic of digital currency is gaining attention, and learning more about it is essential. Just a few weeks ago, I received a message about a job opportunity in cryptocurrency mining that required only one hour of work per day and offered compensation of a few hundred dollars per day. How could I turn that down? I decided to follow up, and I researched crypto mining online. Although I do not fully understand it, I discovered that the mining process validates or creates a ‘wallet’ containing a ‘smart contract’ in the blockchain before it is added. I also found that it requires a powerful computer and specific software. Today, most such mining operations are conducted by large corporations, which often subcontract with smaller companies or individuals. I did not respond to this offer.
I left our meeting with an interest in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency mining. And I wondered the extent to which cryptocurrency is used commercially today. For example, can you buy a Lamborghini with cryptocurrency? And where?
I put my newly found knowledge to good use today. This morning, I received an unexpected call from a New York stockbroker who wanted to ask me about my investment style. I mentioned that I do my investing and asked what he had in mind. He brought up gold. That reminded me of a recent police message about a scam in Ottawa, where brokers called to sell gold as a good investment in the current volatile stock market. I’m not sure if that was a scam call. Still, I replied that I was more interested in cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin futures. That comment caught him off guard.
In summary, I would recommend the book to anyone interested in how technological innovation occurs through intelligent individuals; I enjoyed reading about young, enthusiastic people, written in an engaging journalistic style. Technology is another matter, not sure how many people would understand it.
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