In Myth of Money: Breaking Out of the Failing Financial System, renowned finance, crypto, and economics thought leader Tatiana Koffman delivers an insightful and informative take on the past, present, and future of money, and the rise of cryptocurrencies as a transformative force in the financial world.
Koffman has witnessed multiple financial collapses firsthand - beginning with the fall of the USSR, when her family lost everything, followed by the subprime mortgage crisis that marked the start of her new career, and then the economic fallout of COVID-19. As Bitcoin gains its footing globally, she has observed its meteoric rise and catastrophic falls with a keen understanding that these are early steps of a system poised to redefine finance.
Navigating her way from traditional finance and into the realms of venture capital, crypto, and digital assets, as she writes about fintech, Koffman's journey takes us from Eastern Europe to Canada, to Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, to Lebanon, Dubai, Africa, Necker Island, and back to the States. Along the way, she shares hard-earned lessons about the myths surrounding money, even those emerging in the new digital era.
Throughout the book, her stories are paired with clear explanations and discussions of technical aspects of finance, in her trademark voice of clarity, incisively cutting to the core of complex topics in a relatable and easy-to-digest manner.
Koffman's unique perspective, drawn from her global experience and deep understanding of economic upheavals, makes Myth of Money an essential read for anyone interested in the future of finance and the potential of cryptocurrency to take the place of a system we can no longer rely on to create and safeguard wealth.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: My Journey to Freedom 1
1 Drawing Back the Iron Curtain 7
Roots of Resilience 8
The Fall of the Soviet Empire 9
The Birth of Property Rights in the East 14
Childhood Lessons: It’s a Hard-Knock Life 16
Russian Run on the Banks 18
Go West: Starting a New Life in North America 20
College Years: A Philosopher’s Chair 22
MONEY MYTH #1: Your past defines your future 24
2 The Modern Boiler Room 27
Girl on the Trading Floor: The Lows of High Finance 28
David and Goliath: Navigating the Investment Banking World 34
Sweating the Swap Desk: Fixed Income 38
Big, Smart Money: Stocks and Equities 41
Stepping Off the Merry-Go-Round 45
MONEY MYTH #2: Banks exist for our benefit 47
3 The Culture of Money 49
From Linkin Park to The Chainsmokers: Music and the Art of Venture Capital 53
Y Combinator and the Venture Capital Framework 55
Unicorns, Kardashians, and the NFT Revolution 60
MONEY MYTH #3: Making money has to be boring 68
4 The Money Printer 71
The Journey to My Parents’ Basement 71
Key Schools of Economic Thought 75
A Creature Awakes: The Federal Reserve Steps In 78
The Money Printer Goes Brrrrr 84
The K-Shaped Recovery 87
Flight to Safety 89
MONEY MYTH #4: Regular people don’t need to understand economic policy 90
5 Once Upon a Time in El Salvador 93
The Birth of Bitcoin 94
A Love Story: Bitcoin’s First Circular Economy 100
The First Country to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender 106
MONEY MYTH #5: Bitcoin is a scam 110
6 Lebanon on Fire 113
A House of Paper 114
A Brief History of Money 114
WWII: A Financial Systems Overhaul 118
Crisis in Beirut: Hyperinflation Rocks the Boat 121
Hyperinflation: Triggers and Consequences 124
MONEY MYTH #6: All fiat currency is trustworthy 130
7 The Art of a Ponzi Scheme 133
Vegas of the Middle East 134
I’m Rich, B*tch: Lessons from Larry’s Crypto Suite 137
The Genesis of Cryptocurrencies 145
Washed Up in Monaco 151
Cashing In and Cashing Out 154
MONEY MYTH #7: All cryptocurrencies are good investments 154
8 Leapfrogging to a Decentralized Africa 157
The Fourth Industrial Revolution 158
The Camp David of South Africa: A Presidential Visit 162
A Detour to Necker Island 164
Into the Lion’s Den: Blockchain Applications Kenya and Nigeria 168
MONEY MYTH #8: Blockchain technologies do not have real-world impact 174
9 Breaking Point 177
When Your Mind and Body Fail: Retreat to Bali 178
Market Collapse: A (Block)chain Reaction 181
The Contagion 184
Soft Landing in a Pool of Quicksand: Quantitative Tightening 185
Behind the Vault Door: There Is Less than You Think 189
Protect Yourself from Economic Turbulence 192
MONEY MYTH #9: Getting rich quickly is easy 194
10 Waking Up from the American Dream 197
The Beginning of the End 199
The American Debt: A Downward Spiral 203
Global De-Dollarization 205
Behind the Battlefield: The Economics of War 209
Bitcoin Is a Silent Protest 216
MONEY MYTH #10: The US dollar is different 217
A Path Forward 219
About the Author 229
Index 231
