'The Future of Money: How the digital revolution is transforming currencies and finance'. An interview with the author of this important new book, Eswar Prasad.

Why you should watch: This new book (published by Harvard UP) tackles four big issues: What impact the rapid growth of FinTech is having (and where it is likely to be most successful); whether Bitcoin and blockchain will ever live up to the hype; why central banks, large and small, are placing their bets on CBDCs; and what all of this means for the global financial system - and for the dollar's hegemony. Prof. Prased is strongly supportive of FinTech, particularly in the EM space. He is also strongly supportive of blockchain's potential - albeit more than a bit sceptical about Bitcoin itself. As for CBDCs, he sees them as pretty much inevitable. That said, the combination is still unlikely to overturn a global financial system that is based on the institutions and rule of law that underpin the US dollar. For anyone who really wants to understand FinTech, DeFi, the world of cryptos and CBDCs, this is the place to start.

Moderator: Andrew Hilton (Director, CSFI)

Eswar Prasad is the Tolani Senior Professor of Economics at Cornell in Ithaca, NY and a senior fellow at Brookings in Washington, DC. He is a former chief of financial studies and chief of the China division at the IMF. Originally educated in Madras (now Chennai), he also studied at Brown University, and received his PhD from the University of Chicago.