Ep. 367: Brendan Greeley on The Almighty Dollar, 500 Years of History, and the Eurodollar Market

The dollar’s history is not a narrative of American monetary sovereignty, but rather a centuries-long evolution of global credit and banking practices. Originating from 16th-century Bohemian silver coins known as "thalers," the dollar functioned as an international currency long before the United States adopted it. The modern American monetary system emerged from colonial-era promissory notes and bank-issued credit, eventually transitioning into a framework of regulated bank deposits. This system, which relies on endogenous credit creation, was further complicated by the rise of the Eurodollar market, where offshore banks generated dollar-denominated loans outside direct U.S. control. Journalist and financial historian Brendan Greeley argues that contemporary stablecoins mirror these historical banking structures, functioning as lightly regulated entities that will inevitably face crises similar to those that necessitated the creation of modern deposit insurance and federal oversight.