Richard Holden of UNSW Business School reviews “Fintech Explained: How Technology Is Transforming Financial Services” by Michael R. King. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores how entrepreneurial startups, mature businesses, digital-only banks, and global technology companies are transforming the customer experience in financial services, focusing on financial technology (fintech) applications developed since the mid-2000s that primarily target individuals and small business customers

NO WORLD CENTRAL BANK issues a separate currency for commerce across national boundaries. Instead, a system of national monies works more or less well in providing a medium of exchange and unit of account for current international transactions, as well as a store of value and standard of deferred payment for longer-term borrowing and lending. How do national governments and banking institutions interact to provide international money for merchants and investors? By necessity, this monetary interaction changes with time, place, political circumstances, and financial technology. To better understand its historical evolution, let us follow Robert Mundell and distinguish between a monetary system and a monetary order