The Evolution and Future of Money in Canada (Benjamin Geva)

The University of Toronto Press published a book by lawyer and law professor Benjamin Geva on the evolution of money from barter to coins, banknotes, scriptural money, electronic money, and digital currencies. Of course, this has all been covered elsewhere, but what makes this book unique, is the deep, yet very readable, focus on legal aspects, particularly from the perspective of the Canadian monetary regime. The latter includes a thorough history going back to New France’s use of agricultural commodities and playing cards as money, to Bank of Canada explorations of both retail and wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The book also extensively covers the legal aspects of virtual currencies, particularly stablecoins, and digital bearer instruments (DBIs). Interestingly, Geva makes a case for DBIs as the optimal Canadian retail CBDC as a path of least resistance through the Bank of Canada and Currency Acts, plus several architectural, economic, and privacy advantages over account-based platforms. He also singles out synthetic CBDCs as an optimal solution for achieving uniformity of money in a framework allowing competition. The book ends by addressing the challenges faced by the current monetary system as the digital age continues to evolve and become more decentralized. [To order the book, click here]

The Moneyness of Stablecoins (Odinet Tosado and Yadav)

In a forthcoming Yale Law Journal article, C. Odinet, A. Tosado and Y. Yadav develop a four-element legal framework for “moneyness” and apply it to stablecoins before and after the U.S. GENIUS Act. Moneyness requires conjunctive adequacy across the nature and substance of the claim, safety, discharge capacity, and negotiability, with deficiency in any element undermining the whole. The authors deconstruct the contractual and reserve structures of dominant issuers (Tether and Circle) to show that redemption is conditional and limited by privity, holders lack proprietary interests in backing reserves, and bankruptcy treatment remains ambiguous. These deficiencies matter because they force holders to assess both issuer and custodian solvency, undermine finality in payment discharge, and expose claimants to credit risk incompatible with money’s core function of circulating at par without investigation. The GENIUS Act of 2025 mandates reserve requirements and redemption frameworks but fails to resolve key vulnerabilities. It compels reliance on third-party custodians rather than Federal Reserve accounts, contains internally contradictory bankruptcy provisions, and provides no finality rules specifying when transfers extinguish obligations. The authors propose five targeted reforms; Federal Reserve master account access for qualifying issuers, industry-funded insurance, a secured interest regime replacing flawed bankruptcy rules, statutory finality provisions for both direct and intermediated transfers, and express tokenization of redemption rights. [Odinet Tosado and Yadav]

I am honored to have been given the opportunity to contribute a chapter to the soon-to-be released book, Tokenisation of Money: From Fiat Currencies to Stablecoins, published by Springer! Expertly edited by Prof. Selim Yazıcı, Prof. C. Coşkun Küçüközmen, and Dr. Michael Salmony, it serves as a critical handbook for navigating the profound transformation of the global financial services industry. At a time when there is substantial confusion regarding new digital instruments, this book distinguishes reality from hype across the dimensions of CBDCs, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits. In my contribution, I provide an overview and reality check on global retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments. The book will be available via digital platforms by the end of May and you can pre-order the hard cover version here: https://link.springer.com/book/9783032229458!

FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.