Banking in 2122

Throughout the last century, we saw a massive change in the financial systems of the world thanks to technology. Now that such technologies are embedded in everything we see, hear and touch, even smell and taste, everything has networked and connected globally. We can talk to people on top of Everest, in a crater of the Moon or even in a lake on Mars, in real-time all the time. There are no boundaries.

Unsurprisingly, that has changed banking and finance.

A hundred years ago, we were confident that banks would be around forever – or some were – but now, many have disappeared in the what became the massive cannibalisation of banking in the late 21st century. When Revolut acquired Deutsche Bank, the route began. Today, banking is unrecognisable.

First, there are no physical banking services today. A century ago, there were thousands of branches.

Second, although banking has moved to the network, it is not banking. It is financial processes. The traditional bank has been broken into a thousand pieces, each of which are automated.

Trading, investing, credit, savings, deposits and payments are all pieces of finance that are now part of our world. We just don’t see them anymore.

My house orders its heating and pays for it; when I need to move, the self-driving car network takes my order and it is paid for by something, but I have no idea what; although I work, I work for fun and for funds. It’s very different to how my grandfather behaved.

A hundred years ago, we had to work to get money; today, we get money regardless, and work for self-esteem. It’s such a different world.

Third, banking is integrated with government and governance. The network controls the exchange of value and liability through a thing called ‘smart contracts’. Those smart contracts are embedded in everything from moving goods from Earth to Mars to my walking into a room and getting an instantly produced meal.

The result is that I cannot and do not use the term banking anymore. What is it? There is no single entity that deals with my money in 2122, and I don’t even think about money as money. I get credits and debits digitally. I spend them digitally. I do that through a whole series of embedded processes, running over rails provided by many companies. My allegiance is with my digital wallet – yes, we still have those – and my digital wallet is run by me.

Everything is run by me.

The world is mine, and it’s run by me. I have my own identity, my own digital persona, and my own currency. The world is mine, and it’s run by me. I give governments access to my profile when required; I give financial institutions – yes, they’re still here – access to my profile when necessary. Financial institutions are primarily here for commercial purposes – to track and trade investments and supply chains of multiplanetary institutions – but, in retail, everything has been deconstructed and distributed to enable a world run by me.

It was interesting that this was predicted over a century ago and today is a reality.

So banks do exist in 2122, but we just don’t see them. They are invisible. There is no physical entity called a bank. There’s just a whole range of embedded services that banks provide invisibly. Some of them are still with banks – particularly if you are a multiplanetary institution – but most people live happily with distributed financial services run by the individual in their chosen wallet that feeds all of their services, from food to shelter.

Bear in mind, none of us own a car or a home anymore, and most transport and shelter is purely on-demand, why would we need money, a bank or a physical manifestation of finance? When you can exchange globally, in real-time for everything and anything, why would you need money? When you can send some representation of value as a digit here or there, what does money mean?

In 2122, money is purely a fiction that was created in the last centuries to allow people to trade. Today, we trade with digital credits and debits in an ecosystem of invisible finance. Some call it embedded but, whatever you call it, it’s just a utility. Banking and finance is the same as electricity. I can’t see it, but I just know it’s there when I need it and, as long as I can keep up my debit balances, then I can get whatever I want, whenever I want it, worldwide.

It's not so dissimilar to 2022, just that I don’t have a bank anymore. I just have service providers that manage my balances for me through my things, invisibly and embedded. Oh, maybe it is a bit dissimilar after all.

Postscript: I wrote about life in 2122 the other day. This is about banking in 2122.