On Thursday, former Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, sat down with Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire on YouTube Live for a special edition of The Money Movement, a weekly interview series that explores the issues and ideas driving the world of digital money.
During the episode, Summers and Allaire took a look at the current global economic landscape, recent shifts in monetary policy and central banking based on the economic crisis, as well as the risks that exist in the dollar-driven Western banking system. The two also discussed the rise of digital currency, which included global stablecoins, along with the potential they offer for a post-Bretton Woods international monetary system anchored in synthetic currencies, and how such a system might begin to reconcile the growing polarization between Western economies and China.
Speaking about digital currency development, Summers stated:
“I don’t think we’re in the eighth inning yet, but we’re definitely out of the first inning. Paraphrasing Chuchhill that we’re not at the end but we’re not at the beginning of the end. Maybe we’ve gotten to the end of the beginning.”
See the full interview below.
Jeremy Allaire is Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Circle, a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to “harness the power” of stablecoins and public blockchains for payments and commerce worldwide.
Lawrence Summers is an American economist, former Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank, senior U.S. Treasury Department official throughout President Clinton’s administration, and former director of the National Economic Council for President Obama.