Chapter 1. Once Upon a Token

Out of all the technological advancements that humans have achieved throughout history, the creation of a simple token on a simple digital distributed ledger has the potential to redefine the very meaning of value. This is because the underlying technology, which will be discussed throughout this book, will open up new markets, and these new markets will enable everyone to connect, participate, and exchange value in ways we never thought possible.

We are already seeing snippets of this, such as being able to send value around the world in seconds at a fraction of the normal cost; crypto and token markets trading 24/7 instead of having to close at the end of each business day and all weekend, and, of course, accessing permissionless markets with just a computer and an internet connection.

In this chapter, we start off the journey by introducing some high-level concepts. We will talk about the exciting technology in more detail in subsequent chapters. This first chapter looks at the idea of a network of markets, explains what tokenomics is and paints a picture of a tokenized economy.

These concepts should become clearer as you progress through the book and hopefully, by the end, you can join the network of dots and make your own connections.

We may be surrounded by fancy words, such as "tokenomics" or "blockchain technologies", but beneath it all we are humans trying to connect. We must connect in order to communicate, produce, create, and exchange, all within a market.