Description

The startling picture of how Chinas revolution in finance and technology is changing both Wall Street and the way individuals manage their personal finances

The future of finance the way Wall Street operates and how individuals manage their money is on the verge of upheaval And the force underlying the change comes from China where finance and technology are being merged into a system with consequences that resonate far beyond Chinas border The changes of this global revolution in finance and technology fintech will be as powerful as those wrought in social media retailing and advertising by giants such as Amazon Facebook Google and Twitter which have overturned how we shop and communicate

China reinvented money with lightning speed transforming a backward antiquated cashbased finance system into one centered on superapps created by technology giants Alibaba and Tencent More powerful than anything available outside of China they allow their billion users to pay borrow invest buy goods and services travel chat and far more all fused together in one mobile phone application Think Facebook Google Twitter Goldman Sachs Amazon JP Morgan Chase all rolled into one app

We in the West need to understand Chinas cashless revolution for reasons ranging from the macroeconomic to issues of personal liberty The cutting edge of finance is now in China forcing major financial firms in the United States and the West to figure out how not to be left behind Chinas cashless revolution is also a harbinger of our future if we let the genie out of the bottle and allow big tech to become big finance As money goes digital and central banks around the world consider launching digital currencies we may have both immense convenience and a frightening concentration of power that could violate our privacy stifle competition increase financial risk and give big firms or the government more control over our financial lives And once this genie is out of the bottle the struggle toput it back in may be impossible