eBook - ePub

Tokens

Name: Tokens
ISBN: 9781839768354

The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform

Rachel O'Dwyer,

English
ePUB (mobile friendly)
Available on iOS & Android

eBook - ePub

Tokens

The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform

Rachel O'Dwyer,

About this book

Longlisted for the FT Schroders Business Book of the Year Award 2023 - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: GQ, Los Angeles Times, Wired

Wherever you look, money is being re- placed by tokens. Digital platforms are issuing new kinds of money-like things: phone credit, shares, gift vouchers, game tokens, customer data-the list goes on. But what does it mean when online platforms become the new banks? What new types of control and discrimination emerge when money is tied to specific apps or actions, politics or identities?

Tokens opens up this new and expanding world. Exploring the history of extra- monetary economies, Rachel O'Dwyer shows that private and grassroots tokens have always haunted the real economy. But as the large tech platforms issue new money-like instruments, tokens are suddenly everywhere. Amazon's Turk workers are getting paid in gift cards. Online streamers trade in wishlists. Foreign remittances are sent via phone credit. Bitcoin, gift cards, NFTs, customer data, and game tokens are the new money in an evolving economy. It is a development challenging the balance of power between online empires and the state. Tokens may offer a flexible even subversive route to compensation. But for the platforms them- selves they can be a means of amassing frightening new powers.

An essential read for anyone concerned with digital money, inequality, and the future of the economy.

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Yes, you can access Tokens by Rachel O'Dwyer in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Economics & Monetary Policy. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.