Bitcoin: Meet the 11-year-old boy who wrote the book on cryptocurrencies | The Independent

An 11-year-old boy has written a book about bitcoin in the hope of raising $20m (£14.3m) by the age of 14 so that he can drop out of school.

Andrew K. Courey from Wellesley, Massachusetts, made the agreement with his parents that he could leave education if he achieved his goal and set about looking for million-dollar business ideas to make it happen.

The result was Early Bird Gets the Bitcoin: The Ultimate Guide to Everything About Bitcoin, which Courey self-published in January for Amazon Kindle.

The 57-page book capitalises on its author’s interest in cryptocurrencies, inspired by hours spent studying YouTube videos on bitcoin mining and the digital currency’s short but turbulent history, according to The Swellesley Report.

Early Bird addresses such subjects as bitcoin wallets, rival electronic currencies like ethereum and initial coin offerings, aiming to help even beginners become “masters of bitcoin.”

To ensure the book was easily understandable, Courey chose simple analogies to explain complex jargon associated with the field, for instance likening blockchains to Google Docs files shared by everyone.

The e-book, which took three months to write and edit, is retailing for $2.99 (£2.11) while a print version is on sale for $9.99 (£7.22) – in case you feel like helping Andrew buy his freedom.

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