# Money is still evolving Source: https://www.danielmcglynn.com/money-is-still-evolving Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Money-is-still-evolving?index=0x679b89b0c19a29a9f3d5d9fc875d30a9b72ddfef02a9d4978e38834f64f5f9d6b7ddb8d9 Submitted by danielmcglynn.eth on 2025-01-30 UTC, 1 upvote, 0 comments ## Summary Money is still evolving, and its movement toward Open Money makes sense when viewed as an evolutionary process alongside the internet. The article says money is going digitally native, with direct deposit and apps like PayPal and Venmo as early examples, though these digitized systems still rely on the legacy financial system. It argues that internet-native money, or Open Money, could offer the efficiency, speed, and global reach that the legacy system lacks, enabling ideas such as digital identity, digital scarcity, and AI agents that deploy capital. ## Article The move towards Open Money makes sense when viewed as an evolutionary process In the previous post we talked about how money is information. And if we think about money as data but with certain parameters or rules that make it work, the idea that money is still evolving starts to take shape and make sense. We covered a similar idea about the evolution of the internet or about how the internet was still incomplete. You could make the same argument about money — that the idea of money is incomplete and still evolving. The evolution of money and the evolution of the internet are unfolding on vastly different time scales. People invented the abstraction of money thousands of years ago. It’s a core technology that helped groups of people build societies and then civilizations. People invented the internet decades ago. It’s a core information technology that has only recently helped groups of people build new kinds of communities and new kinds of culture. We are starting to see synergistic effects of what happens when these two systems — money and the internet — begin evolving together, despite their different evolutionary timelines. Specifically, money is going digitally native. We’ve already seen early transitions with new apps and services designed to make the old money system more interoperable with how the network of the internet works. Direct deposit is a good example of this. Apps like PayPal or Venmo are also relevant. While digitizing old money systems is convenient and leads to new kinds of functionality — like contactless payments — it’s still reliant on the legacy financial system. The legacy financial system works fine for many use cases and for many people. But it also lacks the efficiencies, scale, and speed made possible by internet-native money, like Open Money. By nature and by design, it also lacks the built-in accessibility and global reach of money built on top of information networks instead of traditional banking rails. The next phase of monetary evolution, when combined with the internet, will create systems that leverage new kinds of capabilities for both. Ideas like digital identity, digital scarcity, and digital collectibles are now possible because of the combination of internet and money. Payment apps and financial services like credit and lending that don’t require a bank account or a credit card are also now possible. We no longer have to squint to see the future of internet-native money. AI agents can deploy capital without having to create banking profiles or make trades on our behalf based on preset inputs. Money will function as programmable, networked capital — autonomous, permissionless, and seamlessly integrated with the systems that shape our lives. This is the promise of Open Money: an evolutionary step forward that doesn’t just digitize currency but transforms it into an adaptable, intelligent, and inherently global system. The foundations are already being laid, and the trajectory is clear — money, like the internet before it, is moving toward its inevitable future as an open, borderless, and fully interoperable network of value. Recent posts in the Open Money project Money as the world’s first data storage device The history of money is really about the evolution of efficiency when it comes to storing and transferring financial information Daniel McGlynn What makes money, money? Money is a technology that’s changed throughout history. Understanding the basics of traditional money is helpful for understanding how Open Money works Daniel McGlynnDaniel McGlynn Is this money funny? Intro to section two Section two looks at how the idea of money is still evolving and why Open Money makes sense as a next step Daniel McGlynnDaniel McGlynn Section one recap: A look at the framework so far A summary of the key takeaways from section one of the Open Money project Daniel McGlynnDaniel McGlynn