The Future of Money

How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance

By: Eswar S. Prasad

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

Eswar Prasad explains the world of finance is at the threshold of major disruption that will affect corporations, bankers, states, and indeed all of us. The transformation of money will fundamentally rewrite how ordinary people live.

Above all, Prasad foresees the end of physical cash. The driving force won't be phones or credit cards but rather central banks, spurred by the emergence of cryptocurrencies to develop their own, more stable digital currencies. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies themselves will evolve unpredictably as global corporations like Facebook and Amazon join the game. The changes will be accompanied by snowballing innovations that are reshaping finance and have already begun to revolutionize how we invest, trade, insure, and manage risk.

Prasad shows how these and other changes will redefine the very concept of money, unbundling its traditional functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, and store of value. The promise lies in greater efficiency and flexibility, increased sensitivity to the needs of diverse consumers, and improved market access for the unbanked. The risk is instability, lack of accountability, and erosion of privacy. A lucid, visionary work, The Future of Money shows how to maximize the best and guard against the worst of what is to come.

©2021 The President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2021 Tantor

Solid information but definitely biased

This is primarily a book on Central Bank Digital Currencies. The author does a fair job of explaining the landscape of finance and crypto currency/bitcoin and presents arguments backed by solid reasoning and evidence. Insofar as explaining the challenges of adopting a CBDC and the related risks/benefits this book does a good job. I wish it was more doom-and-gloom about CBDC but that's just my bias - the author does actually give reasonable criticisms and nods to even catastrophic challenges to CBDC. Always good to hear what the other side has to say.

For anybody in tune with the space there is distinctive bias, however. For example, in discussions around stable coins he continuously talks about Diem as a promising stable coin and yet Diem is like...dead? They sold all assets to another company. A fair counterpoint would be that the crypto space moves so quickly that a book is bound to make mistakes, but even at time of publication the top two stable coins by market cap were USDT (which is mentioned) and USDC which may or may not be mentioned (can't remember). I don't think DAI ever gets a mention. But Diem? It gets serious page and word presence.

A lot happened since publication and I would have liked to see how these things influenced the author's arguments. El Salvador adoption of BTC as legal tender happened after publication, as did China actually banning bitcoin mining and the hash rate migration. There is absolutely no mention of Lightning and other layer 2 projects as solutions to existing challenges in Bitcoin.

So, bias is there, but insofar as CBDCs are concerned I don't know of a better resource to pick up.

Excellent book

excellent book discusses the details on money and banking form the start before digging into fintech and crypto and other related blockchain based technologies, one of the best books out there on this topic.

good textbook on digital currency

good textbook (too long winded and dry) on digital currency. some established norms have already been proven wrong. not too provocative

Great Content

A very thorough and clear explanation of a complex issue. I found the narrator rather dull. but after speeding up the speech function, it was fine.

Great survey, thoughtful and accessible

Concepts are explained and given background, so this works for any level of expertise. The breadth of this survey is impressive. It is global and includes plenty of recent history as well as outlooks and prospects for various forms of money and their online surrogates. The author gives a pretty balanced and well-reasoned overview, though many in today's go-go speculation culture would derisively call the views here mainstream-based. What they are, is smartly and thoughtfully put together. There is a reason that various enduring aspects of finance (such as US dollar hegemony, and various payment systems in place) ARE enduring, and any serious observer should have this background.

Good content. Dense for an audio book. Get print or Kindle

The book was an argument for why central banks will shift away from paper currency to crypto currency over time and continue to control monetary policy, while decentralised, independent crypto won’t dominate. There are a lot of terms and it would be better digested in a visual format, especially if you’re listening on the go.

FINANCIAL TRUST

“The Future of Money” offers a short history and long explanation of the strengths and weaknesses of filthy lucre. Eswa Prasad begins with the often-told story of how money began as a precious metal transforming to paper for easier exchange between seller and purchaser. The value of money has always been malleable. Its value changed in early times based on authoritarian rule and later in ways Prasad’s book explains as an evolutionary trust of money. Genghis Khan is at one end of the spectrum where currency value is based on the value set by the ruler. If one disagrees with money’s mandated value, you are executed. Later the value of money is supported by full faith and credit of respective governments, inferring execution is less likely.

One who reads Prasad’s book is likely to conclude America will eventually create a digital currency. FTX shows digital currency cannot regulate itself without oversight. Whether America will remain the big dog in currency influence depends on an unknown future. No government’s digital currency has been successful as of this date.

Big Brother can be Benevolent

This is the most disgusting globalist nonsense I’ve ever read. On the other hand, if you want to know what the supervillains have planned for us, this is a great book to read.

From an earlier time

This was a bit of a comical read to start in March 2022 but by May its almost obscene. The world of cryptocurrency, from Bitcoin to “algo-stables” (this book’s preoccupation), is a tragic farce, and it’s lies are quickly being exposed. A book for the dustbin.