High hopes for people in digital finance

Anette Broløs, Erin B. Taylor, Jillet Sarah Sam and Shriram Venkatraman

Chapter 3 in Digital Human Finance, 2026, pp 41-59 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Money and its institutions have changed form over time to support changing cultural and economic practices. High hopes are set for digital technologies to provide broader, cheaper and faster finance, particularly to previously excluded groups. In this chapter, we discuss some of the new technologies (AI, tokens, cryptocurrencies, DeFi and VR), looking particularly at the way they affect users and user communities. We give examples of digital benefits, particularly in access to financial services and we uncover challenges including privacy, cyber fraud and the workings of virtual agents. Particular expectations are set towards DeFi as a means to cut out financial middlemen and return financial decisions and power to users. But DeFi may cut out traditional middlemen only to introduce new intermediaries. Technology works within existing economic structures and it is in this context that the potential to innovate and manage issues of ethics and power must be seen.

Keywords: Digital Transformation; AI; Digital Platforms; Tokens; DeFi; Metavers; Financial Inclusion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035344925
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