What does the future hold for money and payment systems? While it will surely feature unprecedented technologies, foreseeing the full picture requires historical context.

Traditionally, money and payment systems have run on a combination of base money (issued by a central bank) and private-sector money, typically issued by commercial banks through demand deposits, credit cards, and so forth. Since newer fintech payment systems such as Alipay, WeChat, Venmo, and PayPal are still linked to bank deposits and credit cards, they represent evolution, not revolution.

As for Bitcoin and other decentralis...