Agentic dollars and the new currency war: can central banks compete with programmable money? (Part 2 Agentic US dollar)

Written by David Parsons and Jonny Fry, London Digital Escrow

In the first article on the agentic USD - “The blind spot in modern finance: why central banks need visibility into agentic dollar flows” - we discussed how agentic dollars and AI-driven payments could create dangerous visibility gaps for central banks. The next question is even more significant. What happens if stablecoins become the preferred currency of AI agents, multinational corporations and global commerce? The challenge then shifts from monitoring money flows to preserving monetary sovereignty itself. As programmable money gains traction, central banks may face their greatest test since Bretton Woods: competing with financial networks designed for machines rather than nations. For more than eighty years, central banks have occupied the commanding heights of monetary power. Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, governments have largely controlled the issuance of national currencies, influenced credit creation through banking systems and implemented monetary po…