Futurist conversation: Ross Dawson and Gerd Leonhard on the future of money

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My friend and fellow futurist Gerd Leonhard, who runs The Futures Agency (which I am part of), was recently in Sydney for a speaking engagement. We took the opportunity to record a series of conversations on the future. Here is our conversation on the future of money.

The key points we make are:

* The world of money is opening out in a big way today
* Facebook credits are becoming an important alternative currency
* Cash will phase out for digital payments
* The rise of Bitcoin is important in shifting transactions out of the purvey of governments
* In many developing countries mobile phones are becoming the predominant banking platform
* Micro-payments for content could work through social media and dominant platforms such as China’s QQ
* These could flow into crowdfunding for creative endeavors
* Behaviorally we are some way from micro-payments working well
* Money will inevitably shift to the cloud