Cash is freedom. Code is permission. Central bank digital currencies, instant global payment rails and a single digital identity: the pieces of one ledger for the whole planet.
← All six systemsMore than 130 countries are exploring or launching a CBDC. The Bank for International Settlements is building shared platforms such as Project Agorá to connect them, while the IMF’s Special Drawing Right already acts as a reserve unit above any single nation.
Digital money can carry conditions: spend by this date, only on these goods, never in that place. Whoever writes the rules owns the wallet — and can switch it off.
Link a digital currency to a digital ID and a social-credit style score and every purchase becomes a vote on your behaviour. See our chapter on the systems of control.
Can I still pay in cash? Is my balance private? Can anyone freeze, limit or expire my money without a court?
The BRICS currency decides which money world you trade in. The CBDC decides what you are allowed to buy. The BIS wires the world’s central banks together. The Federal Reserve sets the price of the world’s reserve money.
The bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — now joined by Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Indonesia — has openly discussed a shared settlement currency and a cross-border payment network to rival the dollar system. No common coin exists yet. But a new global currency, built on digital rails, is one more way of deciding who may trade, with whom, and on whose terms.
Money issued directly by the state, as code. Convenient — until it can be capped, tracked, frozen or set to expire. A bank account asks permission. A programmable currency is the permission.
Founded in 1930 and based in Basel, the BIS is the “central bank for central banks.” Few citizens have heard of it, yet it hosts the committees that set global banking rules and runs the experiments — such as Project Agorá, linking central banks and private firms on one shared, tokenised ledger — that shape how CBDCs will talk to each other. No vote, no election, no public debate: the plumbing of world money is designed in a room you were never invited to.
Created in 1913, the Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States — and, because the dollar is the world’s reserve currency, the most powerful money-setter on earth. Its governors are appointed, not elected, and its interest-rate decisions move markets and budgets in every country. It creates money by buying bonds, it works hand in hand with the other central banks and the BIS, and its own pilot work on a digital dollar has been debated for years. Defenders say it keeps prices stable and the banking system safe; critics say a private-member banking network with no direct vote has too much power over everyone’s savings, wages and debts.
Money has always followed power — and the oldest powers still sit on it.
The Institute for the Works of Religion (the Vatican Bank) manages assets worldwide. In 2020 the Vatican joined the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, alongside leaders from Mastercard, BlackRock and Bank of America. Critics see Rome blessing the new financial order as “inclusive capitalism”.
The City of London has ancient privileges and the Crown Estate holds vast property. King Charles’ Sustainable Markets Initiative and Terra Carta push finance towards the same ESG goals as the WEF, while Gulf monarchies hold sovereign wealth funds worth trillions.
Opinion and commentary based on public statements and roles.
The Bank for International Settlements — the central bank of central banks. Cash is freedom, code is permission.
How far this pillar has advanced on the road to 2030 — the author’s opinion, as shown on the map.
The World Economic Forum meets here every January. The command centre of the narrative.
Home of the Federal Reserve, the central bank behind the world’s reserve currency.
The City of London: the oldest global financial hub.
The working model: social credit and the digital yuan already live at scale.
A rival pole inside the BRICS bloc, building its own payment rails.
Africa’s financial centre and a BRICS member.
Latin America’s largest market, a BRICS member and an instant-payments (Pix) pioneer.
Launched the eNaira in 2021, one of the first central bank digital currencies in the world.
One world money is the most efficient leash ever designed. Keep cash, keep savings in forms no one can switch off, and defend the right to transact privately.
The Living Economy Next: Energy →
Explore the other pillars: