Writing for the Wall Street Journal is a great achievement, and having a book published by a major publishing company is even better. Now, authors and major publishing houses are stepping up to a digitally time-stamped etching of published works within the Bitcoin block chain, to stand the test of time. What better way to usher in “The Age of CryptoCurrency” than to record proof of a tome about digital currency within Bitcoin’s blockchain?

Writers and Publishers Entering The Age of CryptoCurrency

The title of the new book is The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Digital Money Are Challenging the Global Economic Order, by Wall Street Journal columnists Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey. On sale since January 27th, 2015, a digital copy of it was “hashed” into the Bitcoin Blockchain on February 2nd, 2015 by the Digital Currency Council. This creating a permanent “Proof of Existence”, or POE, in the digital realm, this will stand as POE for all time, or as long as the Bitcoin blockchain itself exists. Many saw this process as more efficient and trusted than traditional copyright, as the POE cannot be modified by a 3rd part, as 3rd parties are not needed at all. Published by St. Martin’s Press, this will mark the first time a major publishing house will etch a published book’s Proof of Existence into Bitcoin’s blockchain.

“If you were to take a look at this transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain, which anyone can freely do, you’d see a cryptographic digest, or ‘hash’, of The Age of Cryptocurrency.” Dan McArdle, Director of Curriculum at the Digital Currency Council, explained “This hash is unique to the book and, for this reason, could not have been generated until the book existed. By embedding this hash in a Bitcoin transaction, the existence of the book with that transaction date is logged in the most secure and irrefutable record-keeping system humanity has ever devised.”

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“The Blockchain has great potential to change how business gets done,” said co-author Paul Vigna. “Recording the existence of the intellectual property, like our book, is just one way that this technology is being used right now. Our book is not just about this new age of cryptocurrency; it is part of this new age.”

Authors Casey and Vigna received a certificate of completion from the DCC, a physical representation of the blockchain recordation process suitable for framing. A digital record is now fully transparent on the Blockchain itself for all to see. (The DCC’s blockchain recordation process utilized Proof of Existence, an open-source platform, for entry.)

“Writers and artists have struggled to protect their works since the Internet-enabled almost unlimited sharing and copying,” shares co-author Michael J. Casey. “The Blockchain holds great promise for those who create and deserve to be rewarded for their creations.”

This may be a milestone for the publishing industry, but the recording of public works and contracts is an old hat for Bitcoin’s blockchain. Even the institution of marriage can be entered into the blockchain, as David and Joyce Mondrus decided to register their marriage within Bitcoin’s block chain. Now, their contract is not only legally held within the eyes of The State but the everlasting online world of recorded information as a digital keepsake for all time.

Images from DCC & Shutterstock.



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