Monetary sovereignty 4.0.
National currencies in the
digital era
From the coins of yesteryear, whose exchange value was deemed to be tangible (since it was inherent to the precious metals from which they were made), to paper money (coins and notes), the evolution of currency has always gone hand in hand with the practices of economic actors and technological change. It has always been an essential instrument of economic activity and a tool of state sovereignty.
With no “material” existence, book money circulates between economic actors thanks to different methods of payment (for example. debit and credit cards, wire transfers, cheques) and is transferred from one commercial bank to another through a book transaction. It represents around 90% of the money stock in circulation, way ahead of the paper money issued by central banks.
For more information, please download the article
The increasingly democratic use
of the Internet by the general public
in the 1990s and the growing power
of e-commerce revolutionised the
traditional models for exchanging
money, further accentuating the rise
of paperless methods of payment.
Consumers are buying online more
and more, physical money is losing
ground, and the number of online
payment solutions has risen
dramatically.
