First, I must apologise to Judith Ratcliffe for the delay in this review. I’ve had a copy of Beyond the Hype for perhaps six months. I started to read it and to make notes and then, working on something entirely unrelated, I broke my brain and it is only in the past couple of weeks that I have been able to do this review. So, spoiler alert: I was ready to give this book a five star “buy” recommendation after the first 20 pages out of some 600.

There is precisely one criticism I have: the subtitle “What they don’t want you to know about Central Bank Digital Currencies” will attract those interested in and sceptical about the topic but it will repel the vast majority of readers who will greatly benefit from all the work Ratcliffe has done to set the subject in context.

I raised the prospect of a central bank digital currency during the Greek debt crisis and so I can see its benefits. It was in a short article in the days when more people thought digital currencies were anonymous than knew they were not. I was not concerned with the issues of privacy v government because in my model the crypto currency would be used for financial interaction with the government – payment of government salaries, pensions and benefits and the payment of taxes, for example. The currency would be spendable in participating retailers who would then use it to pay their own VAT bills and payroll taxes, for example. But it would not replace the Euro for ordinary people making ordinary transactions.

Ratcliffe has looked at the models proposed by governments and their aim is surveillance of the individual and control of funds in a central registry of a replacement for cash and, if one takes the idea to its logical conclusion, the replacement of banks. This is becoming clear: in the UK is on its way with the introduction of laws to allow the Inland Revenue to debit from the bank accounts of individuals and businesses the taxes it says (but does not at that stage assess) that may, not will, fall due .

Ratcliffe does not treat the question of central bank digital currencies as a done deal – it isn’t – but she does look at the proposals for infrastructure around them and what she finds is as we might expect. Governments, including that of the UK, clearly do not understand the technology nor the diverse risks it presents.

The range of ignorance that Ratcliffe exposes should be startling but it isn’t. But it does take someone who is looking at the subject in detail daily, as she does for her professional life.

I have now read about two-thirds of the 600 pages, although not in order, and I have one absolute favourite: it proves my point that the subtitle will turn off people who would benefit the most.

Experian, the global KYC information provider that was built up from a company that analysed the shopping and credit history of users of a home shopping catalogue company in the UK, was fined a substantial sum for data security weaknesses and omission of certain protection measures. Experian’s argument can be best summed up as follows: it was expensive to protect against a risk that we considered to be unlikely to occur so we didn't. The court found that this is not a defence, that protections should be built in at the design stage, not left to be bolted on later and especially after the horse has bolted.

Financial Crime Risk and Compliance Officers should use that case as an example when someone, often at Board level, says that a recommended measure is a step too far.

This book is large but it is written for people who don’t want to be hassled with buzzwords and acronyms and certainly not bamboozled with opaque tech-speak. Or financial industry terms. It takes a bundle of apparently disparate subjects and in plain but not juvenile English shows the web on which each of them live.

Don’t be put off by the limitation of the subtitle (but if that’s a subject you want to know more about, don’t think I’m telling you it’s not about that).

And remember this (you’ve heard the argument at FinCrimeTV in the Chinwags series) – Ratcliffe says “it is worth remembering that CBDCs and other projects aimed at improving life for “the vulnerable” may in fact cause at least some of these so-called “vulnerable people" far more harm than good.” She expands on that and my view is that everyone working in the field of digital currencies and the related tech, to say nothing of those who claim to be working towards protection for those affected by the tech, should read about that. It’s about two thirds of the way through. Which page? I’m not going to tell you. You will find all manner of treasures while you hunt for that one.

The book is available through Waterstones in the UK and Barnes and Noble in the USA, both in shops and online.

Judith Ratcliffe is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-r-6659452b/