Brendan Greeley on the Real 500-Year History of the Dollar | Odd Lots

We love talking about money. And of course we love talking about the dollar, in all its varieties, from bank deposits to eurodollars to stablecoins. But what fundamentally is a dollar and who actually controls it? Before you can even talk about any of that, you need to understand how the dollar was born. Brendan Greeley argues the dollar is a lot older than you might suspect: It is a 500-year-old idea. The word itself has an incredible etymology: It's derived from German, but refers to a Spanish currency made from silver found in Mexico. The story of the dollar, Greeley tells us, goes way beyond the US and implicates the whole world. Our conversation coincides with the release of Greely's new book, 'The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World's Most Powerful Money.' (Source: Bloomberg)