New Money | Lana Swartz

New Money: How Payment Became Social Media

Extended Synopsis

One of the basic structures of everyday life, money is at its core a communication media. Payment systems—cash, card, app, or Bitcoin—are informational and symbolic tools that integrate us into, or exclude us from, the society that surrounds us. Examining the social politics of financial technologies, Lana Swartz reveals what's at stake when we pay.

This accessible and insightful analysis comes at a moment of disruption: from "fin-tech" startups to cryptocurrencies, a variety of technologies are poised to unseat traditional financial infrastructures. Swartz explains these changes, traces their longer histories, and demonstrates their consequences, showcasing just how important these invisible systems truly are.

Getting paid and paying determines whether or not you can put food on the table, while the data that payment produces has become uniquely revelatory and newly valuable. Ultimately, New Money illustrates that new forms of money inherently create new forms of identity, new forms of community, and new forms of power.

Reader Targeting

• Professionals and enthusiasts exploring the intersection of fin-tech, blockchain, and cryptocurrency infrastructures.
• Students and academics focused on media studies, sociology, and digital communication networks.
• Readers seeking comprehensive insights into the hidden societal power dynamics of everyday payment systems.

About the Author

Lana Swartz is a leading voice in media studies whose work critically examines the complex intersections of financial technology, communication, and digital culture, unraveling how payment networks shape modern society.

Accolades & Features

Praised by Jonathan Zittrain as an "engaging and timely work... brilliantly illustrat[ing] how financial technologies are quietly transforming how we socialize." This edition features archival transaction interface diagrams, flowcharts mapping early electronic networks, comprehensive fintech infrastructure footnotes, and historical transaction network indices.

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