Cloudmoney

Cash, Cards, Crypto, and the War for Our Wallets

By: Brett Scott

Narrated by: Coleman Pedigo

The reach of Corporations into our lives via cards and apps has never been greater; many of us rarely use cash these days. But what we’re told is a natural and inevitable move is actually the work of powerful interests. And the great battle of our time is the battle for ownership of the digital footprints that make up our lives.

In Cloudmoney, Brett Scott tells an urgent and revelatory story about how the fusion of Big Finance and Big Tech requires “cloudmoney”—digital money underpinned by the banking sector—to replace physical cash. He dives beneath the surface of the global financial system to uncover a long-established lobbying infrastructure: an alliance of partners waging a covert war on cash. He explains the technical, political, and cultural differences between our various forms of money and shows how the cash system has been under attack for decades, as banking and tech companies promote a cashless society under the banner of progress.

Cloudmoney takes us to the front lines of a war for our wallets that is also about our freedom, from marketing strategies against cash to the weaponization of COVID-19 to push fintech platforms, and from there to the rise of the cryptocurrency rebels and fringe groups pushing back. It asks the most pressing questions:

Who benefits from a cashless society and who gets left behind?

Is the end of cash the end of true privacy?

And is our cloudmoney future closer than we think it is?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

A quick glance at digital money, its institutions and implications in our modern world, very good for newbies

Brett Scott takes a quick look at implications of digital money and its different versions (digital cash, cards, crypto, stable-coins and CDBC), emphasising in the Government Big Brother watching us all. For newbies in this topics it's an excellent option in order to introduce ourselves in what is becoming the standard: digital money and institutions behind it.

wow!

This should be a must for every high school student now and every adult. The dive into monetary systems was an eye opener. Gives one a foundation.

A must listen

The apparent movement to a cashless society is not inevitable nor is a good trend. The narratives being given in support of this “trend” are at best incomplete. Essentially it is a merger between large platform tech and big financial institutions to get a piece of every last transaction.

Well presented and balanced review of global financial networks

The author presents a well argued concern for the decline of cash in various societies. Touching on the large influence from mega corporations and central banks, he shows how our privacy and freedoms are at risk by moving into a world where every purchase we make is monitored. This is not a pro crypto book for anyone looking to simply reinforce their current views. Instead the author presents some criticisms of several monetary systems while promoting cash, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and other blockchain technologies.

Entertaining and educational

I love the author’s writing style. Keeps me engaged. Haven’t finished yet but it’s already a great book in my eyes.