Proof of Stake: The Making of Ethereum and the Philosophy of Blockchains

Vitalik Buterin

Sep 2022 · Gildan Media · Narrated by Derek Shoales

About this audiobook

After Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin dropped out of college and launched Bitcoin Magazine, he wrote the Ethereum white paper, which proposed an open source protocol that would take what Bitcoin did for money and do it for everything else: contracts, social networks, and sharing economies. Now, less than a decade later, his idea is valued at about half a trillion dollars, and it is the foundation for the weird new world of NFT artworks, virtual real estate, and decentralized autonomous organizations. This book is a collection of essays including "On Free Speech," which creates a whole new standard for free speech and how to protect it; "Prediction Markets: Tales from the Election," in which Buterin bets on the Trump-Biden election before and after it was decided, and how the prediction markets help explain the political situation today where so many believe Trump won; and the last essay in the book, "Crypto Cities," where Buterin observes the beginnings already in motion of a future where cities governed through blockchain better serve the public good than governing political institutions do today. Understanding and engaging with Buterin's ideas will be of growing importance as the consequences of his invention continue to unfold and inspire debate worldwide.

About the author

Vitalik Buterin is a Russian-Canadian programmer and writer who cofounded Bitcoin Magazine in 2011 and launched Ethereum in 2014. In 2021, he was named as one of Time magazine's most influential people.

In addition to narrating audiobooks, Derek Shoales has worked on corporate, eLearning, and commercial voice-over projects, been a graphic/web designer and an inventory market mentor, sung bass to baritone in choirs, and played the guitar, electric violin, and Clare whistle.

Nathan Schneider is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. His most recent book is Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition that Is Shaping the Next Economy.