Money as we know and use it is a puzzling phenomenon. Central bank money is not backed by gold or anything else of value. Bank money appears even less reliable. It consists of nothing more than a claim against a bank. And yet—the general public trusts the money generated in traditional ways by the financial industry. Even more surprising is the success of privately-issued digital coins. Especially Facebook’s Libra project raises concern that not just established payment systems, but even central bank-issued fiat currencies might feel the disrupting effects of an unprecedented success story in the making. To explain these phenomena and analyse the effects of new developments on the financial system, several clarifications are needed. The article discusses the traditional concept of money, the different types of central bank and commercial money including e-money and contrasts them with new and mostly unregulated types of digital coins. It looks at the characteristics of the Libra project, the biggest stable coin project in planning, and discusses the potential implications on the operations of central banks and the banking industry. The article argues that the established financial industry should embrace the opportunities stemming from new technologies and compete with the providers of new types of payment services and issuers of digital coins. It cautions against the radical effects of central bank-issued digital coins and considers them a measure of last resort when e-commerce or social media giants establish digital coin schemes that rival fiat currencies. Until this undesirable scenario occurs, central banks should capitalise on their prominence resulting from decades of unrivaled trust in their currencies.

中文翻译：

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不断变化的货币概念：对货币体系的威胁还是金融部门的机遇？

我们所知道和使用的货币是一种令人费解的现象。中央银行的货币不受黄金或任何其他有价值的东西的支持。银行资金似乎更不可靠。它只不过是对银行的索赔。然而——公众信任金融业以传统方式产生的资金。更令人惊讶的是私人发行的数字硬币的成功。尤其是 Facebook 的 Libra 项目引起了人们的担忧，即不仅是已建立的支付系统，甚至中央银行发行的法定货币也可能会感受到正在形成的前所未有的成功故事的破坏性影响。为了解释这些现象并分析新发展对金融体系的影响，需要进行一些澄清。文章讨论了传统的货币概念，不同类型的中央银行和商业货币，包括电子货币，并将它们与新的且大多不受监管的数字货币类型进行对比。它着眼于计划中最大的稳定币项目 Libra 项目的特点，并讨论了对中央银行和银行业运营的潜在影响。文章认为，成熟的金融业应抓住新技术带来的机遇，与新型支付服务提供商和数字货币发行商展开竞争。它警告中央银行发行的数字硬币的激进影响，并认为它们是电子商务或社交媒体巨头建立与法定货币竞争的数字硬币计划时的最后手段。直到这种不受欢迎的情况发生，