UW Faculty Member Publishes Bestselling Book on Philosophy of Bitcoin

University of Wyoming philosophy Associate Professor Bradley Rettler’s new book, “Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin,” became available on Amazon Feb. 15 and is now a bestseller among philosophy books.

Co-written by Andrew Bailey, an associate professor and founding faculty member at Yale-NUS College, and Craig Warmke, an associate professor of philosophy at Northern Illinois University, the book begins by explaining why bitcoin was invented, how it works and where it fits among other kinds of money.

The authors offer a framework for evaluating bitcoin from a global perspective and use it to examine bitcoin’s monetary policy, censorship-resistance, privacy, inclusion and energy use. The book makes a case that bitcoin is a net benefit to the world, despite its imperfections.

“I’m astonished at the number of preorders, but this shows that people care to see how philosophy applies to everyday life,” Rettler says.

“Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin” is his first book. Rettler has another book, “The Problem of Divine Personality,” that will be published later this year. It is under contract with Cambridge University Press.

Rettler teaches courses at UW including the “Philosophy of Religion”; “Metaphysics, Philosophy and Science Fiction”; and “Philosophical Topics: Money.” He has published numerous peer-reviewed academic papers on metaphysics, philosophy of religion, epistemology and cryptocurrency.

For more information about the book, email Rettler at brettler@uwyo.edu.