What if money could decide where, when, and how you were allowed to spend it?

Programmable money could make payments faster, automate welfare programs, improve disaster relief, and give governments powerful new economic tools. But the same technology could also allow restrictions on purchases, expiration dates, geographic limits, and unprecedented levels of financial oversight.

In this episode, we explore the difference between digital money and programmable money, the rise of central bank digital currencies, the benefits of programmable payments, the risks to privacy and financial freedom, and the deeper question at the center of the debate: who should have the power to write rules into money itself?