"Bitcoin, the digital currency, was introduced in 2009 with little fanfare; five years later, it was worth $14 billion. This book explores the cyber currency by focusing on the remarkable stories and intriguing personalities of those responsible for its sudden success. Satoshi Nakamoto, the reclusive and anonymous genius who created Bitcoin. Ross William Ulbricht, who, using the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts, created a darknet market named Silk Road to traffic narcotics until his 2013 arrest. Convicted of money laundering, computer hacking and conspiracy to traffic narcotics, he is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Harvard graduates, successful litigants vs. Facebook, world-class Olympic rowers, and Bitcoin entrepreneurs who own 1 percent of all bitcoins in existence. Absurd and almost unbelievable stories about the passionate and paranoid insiders who made it all happen"--Provided by publisher.