Softwar

A provocative thesis, originally written as the author's MIT graduate work, that asks us to see Bitcoin's proof-of-work not primarily as money but as a new form of physical power and security. Lowery argues that expending real-world energy to secure the network is a way for nations and individuals to project power and impose costs on attackers, and frames Bitcoin as strategic infrastructure with national-security implications. It is a big, contested, opinionated argument — many Bitcoiners disagree with parts of it — so it is best read as one striking lens on the subject rather than as settled fact.

It offers a genuinely different angle for readers who think in terms of geopolitics, strategy and security rather than economics. Even where you push back, it stretches how you think about why proof-of-work's energy use might be a feature. Read it critically, alongside the more mainstream titles.