In the latest episode of the New Money Review podcast I’m joined by someone who says we’re in the middle of a historic battle between the public and private sector over money. And it’s one the state can’t afford to lose, he argues.

Our future global money will be digital, cheap and mobile, says Richard Holden, professor of economics at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, but it may be issued by a tech giant or an emerging economy rather than the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank or Bank of England. And that right to issue money will confer massive power on the winner of the digital currency race.

In his new book, “Money In the 21st Century”, Holden makes a passionate defence of state money and says the US central bank should get its act together and start issuing its own digital money, which he calls Fedcoin.

In the podcast, we cover:

• Why should we go cashless?
• What about those who rely on physical cash?
• How should we go cashless?
• Why is it a problem if a private currency wins the digital currency race?
• Why should the US issue a “Fedcoin”?
• Aren’t faster payment systems enough?
• What did we learn from Facebook’s digital currency experiment?
• China, the US and the geopolitics of digital money
• The future role of the banking system