Shadowing Practice: How Money & Banking Work (& why they're broken today) - Lyn Alden - Learn English Speaking with Video

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How money and banking work and why they're broken today.

There are over 160 currencies in the world today

and the money supply from most of them increases rapidly

which persistently and invisibly dilutes people's savings and wages and siphons that value away towards others.

Money can be printed or lent into existence for corporate interests, bankers,

or corrupt officials and this purchasing power is taken away from the public in ways

that are purposely more subtle and harder to detect than taxation.

And as people try to reach outside of their regions for better money elsewhere,

capital controls and other points of friction are often used to keep them in.

Even in wealthy countries, all is not well.

While inflation may not be as high, the money concentrates toward a smaller and smaller number of hands over time,

and more and more debt is piled up on the government ledger.

Political polarization grows, as nobody can agree on who is causing it or why it's happening.

Improving technology should make things cheaper over time, but central banks' inflation mandates are to ensure

that prices continually increase instead by continually expanding the amount of money in the system.

Money affects us all.

It's how we make contracts, how we coordinate economic activity, and how we store our purchasing power for the future.

And while the world has improved in many ways, money itself continues to be broken for most people worldwide.

I'm Lin Alden, and this is a problem I have invested countless hours into understanding.

I grew up in poverty, which from a young age gave me a strong interest in saving and investing.

In my adult life, my husband and I split our time each year between the United States and Egypt, since our shared roots, families,

and friends are in both places.

So, I see firsthand the troubles that broken money can cause, both subtly in a developed country and more overtly in a developing one.

I currently analyze and invest in the global financial system as a profession.

But before that, I was an engineer building, taking apart, and understanding complex systems.

I view money as another system I must take apart to understand.

This video aims to distill the knowledge I've gathered on this topic.

For a deeper dive, refer to my book, Broken Money, Why Our Financial System Is Failing Us and How We Can Make It Better.

For us to understand our monetary system from the top down, we must start at the bottom and work our way up.

Let's rip away the complexities and pose a fundamental question.

What is money?

Trading goods on the spot is a challenge, as there are more ways a trade can fail than succeed.

If you have extra spears but lack furs, and I have extra furs but lack spears,

that's a relatively rare scenario where our needs align.

When this barter system scales to an economy that produces five different products, it results in 10 unique trading pairs.

With 20 different products, there are 190 trading pairs.

And with 100 different products, that number of trading pairs grows to 4 ,950.

Clearly, a more efficient trading method is needed.

One way to address this is by making the timing of a transaction more flexible.

Suppose you have extra spears and are short on furs, while I have extra spears and furs, but I don't need anything from you.

If you ask me for furs, I could give you some in exchange for an unspecified favor at a later date.

This is called flexible social credit.

In settings with family and friends, gifts are exchanged as a form of social credit with no specific expectation of repayment.

And outside of closed relations, people keep track of who is helpful and who is a burden.

When a well -laid community member needs help, others are more generous with their offerings because of the social history attached to the person in need.

In larger settings, credit systems adhere to a more formal type of credit.

In these systems, a person can borrow some value in the present, but they must promise to repay it later

and there's often some local authority that sets the rules regarding how credit is handled.

Suppose a baker needs meat from a butcher, but the butcher already has bread.

The baker can create, quote, bread credits, where each credit is a promise that could be exchanged for bread in the future.

If the butcher trusts these bread credits will hold that promise, they make a transaction.

Still, the butcher takes on some risks.

In this case, trusting that the baker will remain in business.

Another solution is to use a commodity as money.

Rather than finding a person who has what you specifically need, and where you also have what they specifically need, people can use a portable,

divisible, durable, scarce, and widely desired universal good as one side of every transaction.

Among hunter -gatherers, shell jewelry beads served as a common form of money.

They were small, long -lasting, wearable, hard to make, and widely desirable.

People frequently found use in acquiring more shell jewelry than they currently possessed due to its size,

wearability, aesthetic appeal, and the value it holds over time.

So, if you find yourself short on spears, and I have no immediate need for your goods, I might request shell jewelry in exchange,

even if it's not an immediate necessity for me.

I can wear the jewelry, and later, when I come across something I desire, I can offer the jewelry for trade.

As commodity money evolved, gold and silver coins gained popularity across numerous empires.

These slender disks adhere to standardized shapes, weights, and fineness, simplifying their ability to be verified by anyone using them,

which in turn enhanced the efficiency of transactions.

Coins established dominance over all other forms of commodity money for three primary reasons.

First, gold and silver are harder to increase the supply of relative to other commodities due to their unique properties.

Second, coinage with guaranteed size and purity makes gold and silver easier to use in transactions than raw bits of metal.

Third, the acceptance and liquidity of coins issued domestically would generally be higher than that of foreign coins,

which would ensure widespread acceptance of a standardized unit within that region.

Ultimately, the answer to the question of what is money is that money is a ledger for payments and savings.

Ancient monetary systems usually consisted of a blend of commodity money and credit.

Commodity money represents a ledger whose attributes and constraints are governed by the laws of nature,

and was useful for determining a society's standard unit that transactions would be denominated in.

Holding commodity money in one's own possession also served as a way to store value independently, without relying on anyone else's ongoing memory or liability.

Meanwhile, various credit agreements represent a shared ledger governed by humans, either orally or in writing, and were used to make transactions more efficient,

either between known entities or the backing of a shared authority.

And this is what led to the rise of banking.

In medieval times, a popular paper -based financial instrument in the Middle East and North Africa was the suftaja,

playing a pivotal role in the development of a system known as hawala.

Under this arrangement, a Hualadar money changer operated in one city while their business partner worked in another.

To transfer money between cities, an individual could deposit gold with their local Hualadar,

and either they or their recipient could redeem the same amount of gold from a Hualadar in another city.

This system relied on a network of trust and credit among Hualadars, enhancing the efficiency and safety of long -distance money transfers.

Hualadars with established relationships conducted regular credit -based transactions on behalf of their clients while settling with each other less frequently,

but under more secure conditions.

Without this system, merchants would have had to transport bulky and unsafe quantities of gold between cities more frequently.

This idea of a paper -based credit system eventually made its way into Europe through trade and warfare interactions between

Christians and Muslims.

With the advent of the Renaissance in Europe,

the development of double -entry bookkeeping facilitated increasingly intricate credit arrangements and the emergence of well -known financial institutions.

The invention of the printing press further enabled the creation of more complex financial paper instruments based around increasing levels of negotiability.

In financial jargon, negotiability means that a financial instrument can be transferred to another party, which makes it more broadly applicable and liquid it.

In the initial stage, a simplistic, non -negotiable paper instrument can only be redeemed by the specific party, as specified in its original creation.

In the second stage, a paper instrument is issued to a specific party and is intended for their redemption,

yet it possesses negotiability, allowing it to be signed over to another party who can then redeem it instead.

This involves a more intricate and trusted financial network, connecting a larger number of counterparties.

In the third stage, a paper instrument, such as a banknote, is an asset that is owned by whoever possesses it,

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enabling it to be freely exchanged between parties, with no need for ownership transfer beyond physical possession.

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This third form relies on the existence of large and widely recognized institutions.

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Otherwise, merchants would not accept these banknotes.

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The foundational issue with banking lies in the necessity for customers to trust banks to effectively manage their reserves.

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In the gold -based banking systems of past centuries, customers expected that their deposits and banknotes could be redeemed on demand.

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However, bankers frequently betrayed that trust as they recognized that most individuals did not redeem all their gold at once,

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which allowed bankers to lend out some of their gold while maintaining only a fraction for customer redemptions.

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One way around this problem is with full reserve banking.

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In this approach, all demand deposits, which can be redeemed by depositors at any time, must be fully backed by liquid reserves.

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And any loans that a bank makes must instead be funded by time deposits with an equal or longer duration.

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So, if a bank offers a two -year loan, it should be supported by certificates of deposit with at least two years of duration.

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This practice of matching durations leads to a more stable system

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because it avoids making commitments about liquidity that cannot always be fulfilled.

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Much of history has decided against full reserve banking in favor of fractional reserve banking, where demand deposits can be redeemed at any time,

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even though only a fraction of them are kept in reserves for immediate redemption.

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This approach hinges on the assumption that not many people will redeem or withdraw their money at the same time.

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However, during crises, they often do.

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When money is borrowed from a bank, it leads to the creation of additional fractionally reserved deposits.

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These deposits can then be placed in another bank, where they are once again subject to fractional reserve practices and can be lent out immediately,

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repeating the process.

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This cycle results in the double counting, triple counting, quadruple counting, and so on for base money,

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causing the system to be burdened with many times more gold claims than there is actual gold.

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While this system functions well most of the time, it occasionally experiences catastrophic failures.

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Central banks were established to mitigate the impact of fractional reserve banking crises

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and to provide financial support to governments during times of conflict.

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In the absence of a central bank, a system is typically referred to as free banking.

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Under a free banking arrangement, banks safeguard their own gold, issue deposits, and distribute banknotes redeemable for gold,

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although they still normally have to follow regulations placed on them by the government.

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In contrast, when a central bank is established and granted monopoly status by the government,

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all banks are required to deposit their reserves with the central bank, which holds the gold on their behalf.

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This setup involves fractional reserve practices even within the central bank that manages the reserves.

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When a fractional reserve bank faces a run on its reserves, it can borrow from other banks using its loan assets as collateral.

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But during financial crises, mutual distrust among banks can lead to system failures due to excessive claims on money compared to available reserves.

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To counter this, central banks often resort to printing more currency, causing currency devaluation, breaking gold picks, and inflation.

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Eventually, many central banks and governments abandon gold -backed currency altogether to create a new type of global financial system.

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The rails that move money and credit are highly intricate, and their structure evolves over time due to technological advancements and shifts in geopolitical dynamics.

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At its core, the global financial system facilitates international trade settlement and external financing between different countries.

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In a system where each country maintained its own separate central bank currency ledger, often with mutual distrust regarding the soundness of each other's currency,

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a global reserve asset becomes essential to unify various currencies for international trade.

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Since 1871, this system has undergone three structural transformations.

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After the first transformation, the modern financial era began with the International Gold Standard, which spanned from 1871 until the early 20th century.

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By the 1860s, the telegraph revolutionized communication with the completion of the first cross -Atlantic cable,

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enabling instant communication across continents, a feat previously unimaginable.

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The end of the Franco -Prussian War in 1871 marked the onset of a period of European peace

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and the widespread adoption of the international gold standard.

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At the same time, the United States centralized its banking system during the Civil War and joined Europe in adopting the gold standard.

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While the telegraph created new possibilities, it also introduced a challenge.

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Transactions could now occur at the speed of light across countries and continents, but physical settlements of money were constrained by the limitations of physical matter.

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This mismatch created arbitrage opportunities, which banks and central banks capitalized on.

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They held a monopoly over fast, long -distance value transfers,

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utilizing paper and telegraph communication to update each other's ledgers with minimal need to ever physically send and verify actual gold.

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In 1875, William Stanley Jevons published a book titled

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Money and the Mechanism of exchange.

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Similar to my 2023 book, Broken Money, Jevons explored the history of money and the technological advancements surrounding it.

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He highlighted that thanks to the telegraph and other rapid communication methods, transactions could frequently occur with minimal reliance on physical metal.

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The global financial system was gravitating towards centralization, particularly around London, where bankers could efficiently transact through a centralized clearinghouse.

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Jevons also recognized the substantial risks accompanying this growing efficiency.

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He emphasized that there are approximately 20 times more claims for gold than actual gold reserves.

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He cautioned that bankers should never forget that these fractionally reserved claims essentially represented promises for gold,

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even though they were rarely redeemed as such.

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Even if just 5 % of people simultaneously demanded their gold, the system would crumble.

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Fast forward four decades, and this scenario unfolded during

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World War I.

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The era of European peace came to an end,

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leading to money printing for wartime purposes and widespread defaults on gold redemption within a heavily leveraged financial system.

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Taxing for wars is unpopular and can lead to revolts and revolutions by the people.

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So, governments often turned to currency dilution and other less transparent methods to pay for them.

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In earlier centuries, when governments aimed to debase their currency for war financing, the process unfolded slowly.

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There is no swift method to diminish the value of coins held by people.

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Instead, it required taxation, melting, re -minting, and reintroducing lower quality coins into the economy.

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However, in a scenario where individuals predominantly hold deposits and paper claims backed by gold stored in central bank vaults,

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the ability to sever gold redemption becomes a matter of a stroke of a pen, allowing for the rapid printing of vast amounts of money.

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Governments were no longer restricted by the quantity of gold in their reserves.

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They could continue fighting until they depleted the liquid savings of their entire citizenry.

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The second period of the modern financial era unfolded after

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World War II and extended until 1971.

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During the war years, gold pegs collapsed worldwide, with some nations even outlawing gold ownership for their citizens.

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Following the war, most countries, except the United States, faced severe devastation.

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So, the United States, representing over 40 percent of the global economy, assumed a central role in a new international financial system.

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In 1944, as the Allied forces neared victory, representatives from 44 countries convened in Bretton Woods,

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New Hampshire, to design the future global financial system.

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Britain advocated for a system centered around a neutral reserve asset called a banker, while the United States pushed for pegging all currencies to the dollar,

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with the dollar itself tied to gold.

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The U .S proposal prevailed, leading to the establishment of what we now recognize as the Bretton Woods system.

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Under this system, it remained illegal for Americans to own gold, and they couldn't redeem dollars for gold.

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but foreign central banks had that privilege.

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The creation of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund followed the Bretton Woods Conference, serving as a key components for enticing,

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enforcing and regulating the system.

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Once again, the Achilles heel was fractional reserve banking.

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Between 1950 and 1970, the number of dollars in circulation tripled due to bank lending and government deficits,

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even as US gold reserves diminished through foreign redemptions offshore dollars further multiplied,

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essentially forming one fractional reserve system on top of another.

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By the late 1960s, it became evident that the system was destined to fail, prompting President Nixon to terminate gold redeemability in 1971.

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The third and current era of the modern financial system commenced in the 1970s, following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system.

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After 1971, the world found itself in an entirely unbacked monetary system, marking a significant departure from previous eras.

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While governments could compel their citizens to use currency for domestic transactions, the challenge lay in trusting other governments' unbacked ledgers for global trade.

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During this period, the United States still held the world's largest economy, military power and global dollar network effects from the Bretton Woods era.

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In 1974, the Nixon administration struck a deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, requiring that Saudi Arabia would exclusively sell its oil in dollars,

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accumulate dollar surpluses, and invest those surpluses in U .S government bonds as reserves.

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In return, the U .S would offer lucrative arms deals and military protection.

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This practice extended to other OPEC countries, giving rise to the petrodollar system, that for a substantial period,

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almost all global energy trade was denominated in dollars.

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Throughout these three eras, the gold standard, where nations supported their currencies with gold reserves,

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the Bretton Woods system, characterized by the United States substantial gold holdings and other countries pecking their currencies to the dollar,

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and the petrodollar system, where the U .S dollar and U .S government bonds serve as the pillars of global trade,

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one can see a gradual shift toward two defining features, centralization and abstraction.

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Since the invention and deployment of the telegraph in the latter half of the 19th century,

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the global financial system has witnessed a consolidation of power and a separation from reality.

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The ability for transactions to occur globally at the speed of light, while physical monetary settlements can only happen at the pace of material transfer,

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requires a level of credit abstraction to work.

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This shift granted banks and central banks significant power as they effectively monopolized fast, long -distance value transfers.

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Eventually, they could just drop material transfer from the system altogether and define money entirely around central bank ledgers.

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Central banks took on the role of managing the ledgers for their respective countries.

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And notably, the Bank of England in the past and the U .S.

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Federal Reserve in the present have also served as the global ledgers that bound international trade together.

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As a result, there are approximately 160 different currencies worldwide, each holding a local monopoly within its own jurisdiction,

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with limited or no acceptance beyond its borders.

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Currencies of wealthy nations tend to lose value slowly, while most currencies lose value quickly.

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The anchor of this global financial architecture between all these currencies

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is the U .S dollar countries maintain dollar -denominated assets in reserves, denominate significant portions of international trade contracts in dollars,

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and access dollar -denominated financing from foreign creditors.

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This greatly benefits the United States geopolitically, even though it doesn't necessarily benefit all Americans.

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For instance, the United States can devalue the dollar through softer monetary policies, thereby diminishing the purchasing power of currency reserves held by creditor nations.

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Or the United States can strengthen the dollar through tighter monetary policies,

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increasing the value of liabilities owed by debtor nations and sending them into financial crises.

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The failure rate for currencies around the world is very high.

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In the 1990s, Brazil, at the time the fifth most populous country in the world, experienced severe hyperinflation.

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Since the 1980s or later, hyperinflation has impacted other nations such as Argentina, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Poland, Kazakhstan,

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Peru, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Lebanon, and several others.

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Additionally, countries like Israel, Mexico, Vietnam, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Turkey grappled with triple -digit inflation during this period,

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which is on the brink of hyperinflation.

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Many other countries experienced recurring periods of double -digit inflation.

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Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million people, has witnessed an annualized price inflation rate of 13 % over the past decade.

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Turkey and Argentina, both esteemed members of the G20 nations with a combined population exceeding 130 million people,

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have struggled with runaway inflation for years. In 2016,

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Egypt, home to over 100 million people drastically devalued its currency by half relative to the dollar

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and repeated this devaluation again in 2022.

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Both actions taken at the bidding of the International Monetary Fund.

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When such devaluations occur, not only do people see their savings lose value, but their ongoing wages, denominated in local currency units, also suffer.

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Over the past 50 years,

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very few developing countries have attained developed status the absence of currency stability forces them to rely on external currency financing,

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which ironically contributes significantly to their currency instability, creating a destructive and nearly inescapable cycle.

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Even in wealthy countries, money often doesn't make sense.

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From 2016 to 2021, Europe and Japan grappled with negative yielding bonds valued at over $18 trillion.

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Instead of earning interest for lending to governments and major corporations, individuals had to pay for this privilege.

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This upheaval in the financial system inverted incentives, and a global inflation surge in the ensuing years greatly eroded the purchasing power for those bondholders.

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Between 2020 and 2022, the United States increased its public debt by over $8 trillion,

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a significant portion of which was effectively printed by the country's central bank.

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This equates to more than $60 ,000 per American household.

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However, the average American family has not received anywhere near this amount of stimulus.

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With more than 160 currency jurisdictions worldwide, these governments, including the United States, possess substantial authority to erode the value of people's savings and wages,

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often channeling this value opaquely to various parties situated closer to the source of money creation.

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As money is continually diluted with ever -growing supply, sometimes value is funneled to corrupt government officials.

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Other times it is funneled toward financiers with privileged access to credit and bailouts.

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The details vary by country, and although there is plenty of blame to go around, the important point is that the incentives themselves are corrupt.

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The heart of the problem does not lie with specific individuals taking advantage of the system, or even those maintaining the system.

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The problem is that the system itself is simply broken and outdated.

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Perhaps what is needed is an entirely new system, one that cannot be changed at the flip of a switch,

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one that is decentralized, one that is permissionless, one that is open source.

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Since the development of the internet, cryptographers have sought methods for creating decentralized digital currency. In 1982,

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David Chawm published a research paper on how mutually distrustful groups could use cryptography to maintain a shared database or ledger.

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During the 1990s and early 2000s, figures like Adam Back, Nick Szabo,

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and Hal Finney explored ways to create digital tokens supported by electricity and processing power, a concept known as proof of work.

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In 2008, an anonymous programmer using the name Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper, which expanded on these earlier ideas.

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It outlined a method for creating a decentralized digital currency using a distributed network of nodes

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and transaction timestamping through cryptography and proof of work.

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In 2009, Nakamoto released the open source application to implement his design, and thus the Bitcoin time chain was born.

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What makes Bitcoin remarkable is its ability to enable bearer asset final settlements at the speed of light.

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It effectively closes the speed gap between transactions and settlements that has persisted since the late 19th century.

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In other words, it's the first workable way to quickly send money long distances without relying on centralized intermediaries and credit.

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And it comes with its own finite unit of account that cannot be diluted.

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For the past 15 years, Bitcoin has been refined in various ways, tested to see how robust it is to attacks,

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and copied by competitors to see if there's any way to do it better.

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So far, it has continuously remain the largest, most liquid, most decentralized, and most secure cryptocurrency.

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Although it has been volatile, Bitcoin has reached higher highs and higher lows of market value and adoption, cycle after cycle.

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Bitcoin works because anyone can run an open source node on a simple device such as a laptop,

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and these nodes all store the full history of the ledger.

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Users possess private keys, enabling them to sign transactions and pay fees to move coins or fractional coins between addresses.

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Miners contribute electricity

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and processing power to add new transaction blocks to the ledger in exchange for receiving transaction fees

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and new coins that are generated in each new block during the early years of the network.

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No individual entity, including the network's creator, can change the rules, dilute people's coins, or censor transactions.

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The network can, however, be updated over time in a backwards compatible way by a revolving set of contributing open source developers whenever

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there is enough consensus by the node operators and the miners to do so.

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While additional layers can enhance

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Bitcoin speed, transaction throughput, or programmability, the base layer remains simple and robust.

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With an eventual fixed supply of 21 million Bitcoins generated by miners over time in a pre -programmed deflationary pattern since inception,

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Value can be sent to anyone with an internet connection or brought with anyone globally.

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Bitcoin is decentralized digital money, offering a viable alternative to inflationary, centralized banking ledgers.

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This technology is helping to pierce the 160 different fiat currency bubbles that people are trapped in.

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Cash and gold can be blocked in airports, and bank transfers are tightly controlled, but people can send Bitcoins directly to others across borders

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or bring their bitcoins with them as they move around the world just by writing down

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or memorizing 12 words representing their private key people can protect themselves against monetary dilution

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and financial censorship in a world where half of the population lives under varying shades of authoritarianism

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and billions of people live with persistently high inflation the ability to fracture these 160 currency silos

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and connect them together should not be underestimated however this

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This technology has also catalyzed the development of more centralized digital currencies.

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Private stablecoins, for instance, enable collateralized dollar tokens to trade on multiple blockchains providing people

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in numerous highly inflationary countries easier access to U .S dollars for savings.

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Additionally, governments have explored and sometimes launched central bank digital currencies, which are digitally native, even more centralized versions of fiat currencies.

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This era marks a fork in the road, offering two distinct paths going forward.

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Over the past century and a half, within the telecommunication age, the global financial system has gravitated toward increased centralization,

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abstraction, and inflation, driven by the gap in speed between transactions and settlements, and relying on ever -expanding credit to bridge this gap.

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Most technologies in the past that made money more efficient have come at the cost of making it more centralized and controlled.

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On one path going forward, central bank digital currencies can continue the prior trend of ever more centralized systems

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that enable precise control and authority and dilution by nation states over their citizens.

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On the other path, the emergence of Bitcoin

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and other open source cryptographic technologies facilitating rapid digital settlements without

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the need for credit in a peer -to -peer manner charts a course that diverges from this trend, leading toward a more decentralized,

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streamlined, and deflationary monetary system.

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Money is a shared ledger, prompting the central question of who governs this ledger.

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Early credit systems were governed by local communities, commodity money abided by natural laws, fiat currencies came under the jurisdiction of banks and nation states,

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and open source decentralized money like

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Bitcoin is governed by its users and selected by market forces.

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In modern times, our money has been broken because it has been centralized, closed, and corrupted in 160 different ways.

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If we're going to fix it in the digital age, a powerful method would be to make it more decentralized,

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open, and transparent so that it can strengthen people as individuals

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while at the same time shattering the financial silos that separate us.

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With open source money, anyone can hold it, anyone can send it, anyone can bring it with them,

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anyone can build new technologies that make it better, and everyone across borders can be connected by it.

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If you enjoyed this video, share it with a friend.

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If you want to learn more about these topics, check out my book, Broken Money,

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Why Our financial system is failing us and how we can make it better.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “How Money & Banking Work (& why they're broken today) - Lyn Alden”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: gold, bank, financial, reserve, credit. This video has 322 sentences and 5012 words to shadow. The speech runs for 32:28. The speaker talks at a natural 154 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 75% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
currency noun	/ˈkʌɹ.ən.si/	Money or other items used to facilitate transactions.
transaction noun	/tɹænˈzækʃən/	The act of conducting or carrying out (business, negotiations, plans).
deposit noun	/dɪˈpɑ.zɪt/	Sediment or rock that is not native to its present location or is different from the surrounding material. Sometimes refers to ore or gems.
coin noun	/ˈkoɪ̯n/	A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle.
inflation noun	/ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/	An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size, especially by injection of a gas or liquid.
monetary adjective	/ˈmʌnɪtəɹi/	Of, pertaining to, or consisting of money.
redeem verb	/ɹɪˈdiːm/	To recover ownership of something by buying it back.
commodity noun	/kəˈmɑdəti/	Anything movable (a good) that is bought and sold.
enable verb	/ɪˈneɪ.bəl/	To make somebody able (to do, or to be, something); to give sufficient ability or power to do or to be; to give strength or ability to.
redemption noun	/ɹɪˈdɛmpʃən/	The act of redeeming or something redeemed.
instrument noun	/ˈɪnstɹəmənt/	A device used to produce music.
fur noun	/fɜː/	The hairy coat of various mammal species, especially when fine, soft and thick.
telegraph noun	/ˈtɛl.ɪ.ɡɹɑːf/	Synonym of telegraphy, any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a symbolic code.
banker noun	/ˈbæŋkəː/	One who conducts the business of banking; one who, individually, or as a member of a company, keeps an establishment for the deposit or loan of money, or for…
jewellery noun	/ˈd͡ʒʊ-/	Collectively, personal ornamentation such as rings, necklaces, brooches and bracelets, made of precious metals and sometimes set with gemstones.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
going forward adverb		In the immediate future and beyond.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come across verb		To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.
come under verb		To come underneath (something).
go around verb		To move or spread from person to person.
hand over verb		To relinquish control or possession of something to someone.
hold over verb	/ˌhəʊld ˈəʊ̯.və/	(Of a resource) To support or sustain someone for a limited period.
move around verb		To relocate to new homes repeatedly; to not live in any one place for long.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has improved · have invested · I've gathered
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	can be printed · is taken · is piled
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	person who has · party, which makes · deposits, which can

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, couldn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: wealthy /ˈwɛl.θi/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: transaction /tɹænˈzækʃən/, inflation /ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/, redemption /ɹɪˈdɛmpʃən/, substantial /səbˈstænʃəl/, efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/
Long words — get the stress right: monetary /ˈmʌnɪtəɹi/, commodity /kəˈmɑdəti/, efficiency /ɪˈfɪʃ.ən.si/, continually /kənˈtɪnjuəli/, monopoly /məˈnɑpəli/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like currency, transaction, deposit.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How Money & Banking Work (& why they're broken today) - Lyn Alden - Learn English Speaking with Video

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