Money Code Space

"...among the many books on bitcoin, this is one of the most valuable..." -- J. Brzezinski, McHenry County College, CHOICE "In this fascinating book, Jack Parkin details the socio-spatial trajectories and political economies of blockchain cryptocurrencies. Through an insightful multi-site ethnography he explains with compelling conceptual clarity the materialities and spatialities of emerging decentralised financial architectures. Engagingly written, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the tangled relationship of money, code, and space." -- Rob Kitchin, Maynooth University "Money Code Space gives us an in-depth analysis of particular types of digital capabilities DL specifically, powerful tools that can become dangerous instruments. Jack Parkin's book takes us well beyond the more familiar descriptions of blockchain and its cousins." -- Saskia Sassen, Columbia University "Jack Parkin's book expertly integrates the fields of financial and digital geographies through the compelling case studies of the cryptocurrency of Bitcoin and the blockchain technology supporting it. From these strong empirics, Parkin makes a strong contribution to advancing and integrating theories of finance, code/space, software/data studies, and money. It is an excellent piece of scholarship and highly recommended for those studying the construction of financial and digital spaces and how the visions and dreams encoded in software are negotiated and materialized in economic practices. This book highlights the constructed, contested and political nature of so-called "neutral" technologies and moreover demonstrates how a technology designed to be the ultimate in decentralization, nevertheless relies on centralization in order to function." -- Matthew Zook, University of Kentucky