A FINANCIAL TIMES ECONOMICS BOOK OF THE YEAR 'An excellent book' VINCE CABLE | 'A must read'
JO JOHNSON | 'A fascinating read' BILL DUDLEY A timely manifesto on how digital currencies
will win the New Cold War and the struggle for geopolitical supremacy in the twenty-first
century. A New Cold War is underway. Whereas the first Cold War was dominated by the threat
of nuclear conflict the new front line is economic and financial but still dominated by
technology. Who controls its future will help decide the outcome of the geopolitical struggle
between China and the US. Since the end of the Second World War the US dollar has been the
global reserve currency which has ensured American dominance of the world economy. But no
longer. More than a hundred countries are developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
digital equivalents to cash that will utterly transform how we do business at home and abroad.
China was the first country to recognise the potential of this new money. The West's media
focused on the new currency's role in China's surveillance state creating widespread concern
about all CBDCs. But they have largely overlooked a more important aspect of its existence: as
a tool through which to 'de-dollarise' the developing world at the speed of light. When China's
President Xi Jinping officially launched the digital yuan in February 2022 he also agreed a
pact of 'limitless co-operation' with Russia. Within days Russia launched its war on Ukraine
secure in the knowledge it could bypass US sanctions. Urgent clear-eyed and groundbreaking
Smart Money shows us how CBDCs are going to impact all of our futures in ways that most of us
have failed to even consider. If the West is to compete it needs to act fast to develop its
own global digital currencies that reflect the values of liberal democracies.
