On Wednesday night, Feb. 11, we were part of a special night at the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street, a discussion on digital currency and the future of finance featuring former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers that took a look at the ways in which bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are going to effect, and be absorbed and adapted by, the financial system.

Nearly 300 people (the event sold out very quickly) filled the museum’s main exhibition hall to hear Summers, us, and a panel of experts talk about the future of finance, and digital currency’s place in that future.

The museum occupies the old Bank of New York headquarters, a grand old Greek revival building on the corner of Wall and Williams street, a block away from Federal Hall and the New York Stock Exchange. That location and history made for a dramatic backdrop to what was decidedly a 21st century night of questions and discussions.

The media coverage ranged from the mainstream New York Times, which took a very straightforward angle with this write-up of Summers’ comments, to this decidedly cynical take from Animal New York. “On Wednesday night, the Establishment wasn’t afraid,” Peter Yeh wrote. “It was excited. Its members swarmed the CEOs after the panel ended to exchange business cards. Nothing is more traditional finance than that.”

There was something to that take. This was one of the first times, if not the first, that the upstart cryptocurrency world met the staid traditional finance world on its own turf, and engaged it on its own terms. The night was less about disruption and more about evolution, and it seemed to us at least that at some point soon, there’s going to be something in the museum to represent bitcoin, something that extends the line of history just one step further.

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Publishers Weekly gave The Age of Cryptocurrency a “starred” review; here’s what they had to say:

While many readers understandably have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept of non-government-backed currency, journalists Casey (Che’s Afterlife) and Vigna, who blog about cryptocurrency at the Wall Street Journal’s MoneyBeat blog, here use their considerable expertise to make the Bitcoin phenomenon accessible.

They take a thorough, multidisciplinary approach to the topic, including a fascinating examination of the origin of money. The authors are appropriately cautious, warning that despite increased public awareness of Bitcoin, it remains a niche product, and the jury is still out on how far and how quickly it and other digital currency will spread.

However, newcomers will gain a better understanding of the revolutionary potential of digital currency, especially for the “roughly 2.5 billion people from Afghanistan to Africa to even America who have been shut out of the modern finance system.” And the explication of the non-currency applications of the concepts behind Bitcoin—such as tamper-proof records of verified information—will be valuable to any reader. Agent: Gillian McKenzie, Gillian McKenzie Agency. (Jan.)

“Anyone who doubts that bitcoin and its imitators are at the early stage of altering fundamentally the global payments system—if not the nature of money itself—will find it difficult to resist Michael Casey and Paul Vigna’s admirably clear and judicious account. If the word ‘blockchain’ makes you want to call a plumber, or if you think Satoshi is some kind of raw fish, you need to read The Age of Cryptocurrency today. If you’re already a bit-convert, you’ll still learn a lot.”
—Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money

“Anyone who views bitcoin as a voodoo concept must read this totally comprehensible narrative outlining the history of money and how bitcoin might become a new and better currency. For those confused by bitcoin concepts, this clearheaded and readable book sets forth credible reasons why bitcoin might or might not be an evolving economic miracle.”
—Arthur Levitt, 25th Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission

“An invaluable book: a fascinating field guide to the phenomenon in which three of the most powerful forces shaping our world today—the reform of finance, technological innovation, and the rejection of traditional politics—meet.”
—Felix Martin, author of Money: The Unauthorized Biography

“The Age of Cryptocurrency not only demystifies and explains bitcoin, but also shows where it fits into the cultural zeitgeist and where it’s pointed, and what that may mean for our financial system.”
—John Mauldin, New York Times bestselling author of Endgame

“The thought-provoking Age of Cryptocurrency was a pleasure to read. The authors have successfully demystified cryptocurrencies like bitcoin so that even a traditionalist like myself can understand them and embrace their potential. And the references to money were so spot-on, they even taught this old dog some new tricks.”
—Edmund C. Moy, 38th Director of the United States Mint, 2006-2011

“Vigna and Casey unlock the mysteries of cryptocurrencies and their implications for the future of financial transactions in an engaging, lucid, and thought-provoking account. The technological developments described in this book will someday affect every one of us and I can think of no better guide to what the future holds.”
—Eswar Prasad, author of The Dollar Trap

“Even to a bitcoin skeptic like myself, Vigna and Casey’s book is a fascinating journey into the cast of characters and oddballs behind the movement into the digital currency realm.”
—Barry Ritholtz, CIO, Ritholtz Wealth Management

“Thorough, multidisciplinary approach to the topic, including a fascinating examination of the origin of money… newcomers will gain a better understanding of the revolutionary potential of digital currency…And the explication of the non-currency applications of the concepts behind Bitcoin—such as tamper-proof records of verified information—will be valuable to any reader. ”
– Publishers Weekly, starred review