Crypto currency is the biggest change to hit the economy in 150 years, said Ric Edelman, a thought leader in the financial services industry and a New York Times bestselling author of 10 books on personal finance.

Edelman has stepped up to explain the new phenomena in his newest book, “The Truth about Crypto: A Practical, Easy-to-Understand Guide to Blockchain, Bitcoin, NFTs (non fungible tokens), and Other Digital Assets,” written for advisors and investors.

Although Edelman remarkeid in an interview that he swore off writing books after his last one, “The Squirrel Manifesto," he said cryptocurrency and digital assets “screamed out to be written about.”

Advisors and investors are confused, or just lack knowledge, about digital assets, he added.

“Digital assets are the first new asset class to appear in the last 150 years [and] advisors and investors need to know how to develop an investment strategy,” he said. Edelman said he does not try to predict the immediate future of volatile cryptocurrencies, but rather takes a longer look at the impact of digital assets on the economy and investing.

“This is one of the most impactful innovations in global commerce” that has occurred in decades. “It is really important for investors and advisors to understand it so they can benefit from the changes,” Edelman said.

“This is a complicated subject. I wanted to make it fun and entertaining, but also informative. The book includes cartoons, and “even the footnotes are funny,” he said.

Four innovations have been or will be the most impactful in history, according to the book: fire, the wheel, the internet and the blockchain. “Yeah, blockchain. Think of it as Internet 3.0,” Edelman began in the book, before leaping into buying bits and tokens, choosing the right digital assets for your portfolio, and the risks of investing in this newest asset class.

“This is a totally new topic, unlike anything we have seen in finances,” Edelman said. “I wanted to give a clear, fundamental understanding of this new technology and its role in investment management.”

Many advisors and investors are laboring under the myth that an investor has to put 10%, 20% or 30% of his assets into digital assets in order to have an appreciable change in the portfolio, so they are putting in zero, he said. But in reality, 1% to 5% of the portfolio invested in digital assets can have a positive impact on total  portfolio returns—with limited risk.

In addition to addressing the investor, several chapters are written specifically for advisors on regulations, taxation and compliance. With these chapters, the investor can get a look behind the scenes at what advisors deal with, Edelman said.

“Much of the taxation of digital assets and returns is like other taxes, but other things are new and the IRS has not issued regulations for these areas yet,” he said. In addition, other things remain unsettled, such as how advisors fill out their ADV forms.

Edelman wrote in the book, “It was inevitable that somebody would figure out how to digitize money. Digital assets replace the trust economy with an authentication economy. As more banks develop blockchain technology, (it) will add nearly $2 trillion to the $80 trillion global economy by 2030. Bitcoin is the most profitable asset in history.”

“Blockchain technology is revolutionary – perhaps the most profound innovation for global commerce since the invention of the internet. Bitcoin and other digital assets represent a potentially huge opportunity for investors, but most don’t know how to navigate this new asset class,” he wrote.

In addition to the new book, Edelman founded the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals four years ago, which is a provider of digital assets education for financial advisors.