The Future of Money : How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance

A Best Book of the Year — Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, ProMarket, The Week “A vital handbook for anyone looking to understand how finance is changing.” —Financial Times “A road map for money managers, market strategists, and others seeking to understand this new world.”—Barron’s The world of finance is on the cusp of a major disruption that will affect corporations, bankers, states—indeed, all of us. As Eswar Prasad makes clear, the end of physical cash will fundamentally rewrite how we live. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies are just the beginning: spurred by their emergence, central banks will increasingly develop their own, more stable digital currencies. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies themselves will evolve dramatically as global corporations like Meta, Apple, and Amazon join the game. Prasad shows how these innovations will redefine the very concept of money, unbundling its traditional functions. This transformation promises greater efficiency and flexibility, but also carries the risk of 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.