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Aspenia 96: Presentation – Monete e potere

  • 18 March 2022

        PRESS RELEASE

        Monete e potere

        Rome, 18 March 2022 –To tie in with the publication of Aspenia 96 (in Italian), Aspen Institute Italia will be holding an Aspenia Talk on “The future of currency” in digital mode at 18:00 on 23 March. The panel will be held on the Zoom platform and will be open to the press.

        Journalists interested in attending can register to follow the meeting on:

        https://aspeninstituteitalia.zoom.us/webinar/register/9416475267134/WN_28FHX1HVQTuD2iEiO5PYyA

        Speakers at the meeting will include: Giulio Tremonti, Chairman, Aspen Institute Italia; Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Harvard University; Adam Posen, President, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Paola Subacchi, Professor in International Economics and Member of the Advisory Board Global Policy Institute, Queen Mary, University of London; Massimo Doria, Head of the Department for Retail Payment Instruments and Services, Bank of Italy; Pier Carlo Padoan, President, Unicredit.

        The international financial system is still broadly dominated by the dollar, which still accounts for some 80% of current international trade with oil contracts topping the bill. Something is changing, however, because a “mulitpolar” currency system is beginning to emerge and it includes cryptocurrencies. This topic is discussed by Giulio Tremonti, Stefano Cingolani, Carlo Scognamiglio, Erik Jones, Giorgio La Malfa, Giovanni Farese, Paola Subacchi, Ignazio Angeloni, Daniel Gros, Giacomo Luciani, Soli Özel, Giulio Sapelli and Carlo Jean in Aspenia 96, entitled “Monete e Potere”, and edited by Marta Dassù.

        Prospective future scenarios include the possibility of a monetary system that is less homogeneous, or even broken down into potentially distinct rival areas in competition with one another. This process could be accelerated both by Russia’s financial isolation – with the collapse of the rouble and with Western sanctions – and by the relationship between Beijing and Moscow with new energy contracts in a currency other than the dollar. On the opposing front, the relationship between the euro and the dollar serves as a thermometer to gauge the extent to which the West, having rediscovered NATO, will now prove capable also of managing the tricky post-COVID economic recovery and the extremely sensitive industrial-cum-energy transition.

        Cryptocurrencies, the product of a dream involving bringing democracy to the world of finance via a new currency tool, have now become a tool for speculation not only on account of their extremely volatile quotes, which make them unserviceable for the retail user, but also on account of the restriction on the number of participants implicit in any mechanism based on decentralized accounting. That does not mean they are finished, however. Bitcoins and other digital currencies are going to continue to play a role in the development of the financial system, and indeed they have already triggered a profound change that is having an impact on central banks’ thinking.


        Stefania Salustri
        Head of Communications and Media Relations, Website Director
        Tel: 335 7919949
        e-mail: stefania.salustri@aspeninstitute.it