Throughout the history of monetary thought, economists have predominantly emphasised the function of money as a medium of exchange along with the intrinsic properties that enhance its salability and credibility as the most liquid store of value. But the social institution of money co-evolves with technology. It is significant that the advent of digital crypto-currencies was initiated by computer scientists and has taken economists completely by surprise. As a consequence, it also forces our profession to rethink the basic phenomenology of money. In accordance with the views of Wieser and Schumpeter, digitization brings to the fore the immaterial function of money as a standard of value and social technology of account, which increasingly absorbs its function as a medium of exchange. The potential impact of this on economic policy is huge. The variety of different crypto coins has proven the technical feasibility of competing private currencies as proposed by Hayek. In the long term, however, there is reason to doubt the persistence of intense competition. One must fear that major digital platforms will extend their current dominance in multisided virtual market places to include digital payments and money. Central banks are increasingly anxious to preserve public sovereignty over the common unit of account and are considering issuing their own digital fiat money. After the current era of intense creative experimentation, the potentially new spontaneous order of private crypto-currencies is likely to be supplanted by central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the design of which will depend on deliberate public choices and policies.

在整个货币思想的历史中，经济学家一直强调货币作为交换媒介的功能，以及内在属性，这些属性增强了货币的流通性和公信力，使其成为最具流动性的价值存储。但是，货币的社会制度与技术共同发展。至关重要的是，数字加密货币的出现是由计算机科学家发起的，并使经济学家感到意外。结果，这也迫使我们的专业人士重新思考货币的基本现象学。根据维瑟和熊彼特的观点，数字化使货币作为价值标准和社会化记账技术的非物质功能脱颖而出，这越来越多地吸收了其作为交换媒介的功能。这对经济政策的潜在影响是巨大的。正如哈耶克（Hayek）提出的那样，各种不同的加密硬币已证明竞争私人货币的技术可行性。但是，从长远来看，有理由怀疑激烈竞争的持续性。必须担心主要的数字平台会扩大其在多面虚拟市场中的主导地位，使其包括数字支付和金钱。中央银行越来越渴望维护公共账户单位的公共主权，并正在考虑发行自己的数字法定货币。在当前激烈的创新实验时代之后，潜在的新的自发加密私人加密货币订单可能会被中央​​银行数字货币（CBDC）取代，其设计将取决于蓄意的公共选择和政策。