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drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James
@drscottjames.bsky.social
1.2K followers 390 following 230 posts

Reader in Political Economy, King’s College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-scott-james
IPE of finance and tech, monetary politics, City of London
BANK POLITICS (OUP, 2023)
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/bank-politics-9780192898609?cc=gb&lang=en& .. more

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Economics 34%
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Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · Mar 18
New article with Lucia Quaglia on how EU banks and EU regulators engaged in ‘noisy geopolitics’ by leveraging the digital sovereignty agenda to push for tighter controls on (US) bigtechs. Part of a special issue on ‘Transformation of Banking’ in Competition and Change
doi.org/10.1177/1024...

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 1d
History doesn’t repeat or rhyme, it just tortures us
alanbeattie.bsky.social Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 1d
This works best if you imagine a delusional eccentric who has watched too many motivational videos shouting at themselves in a mirror.

Reposted by James Scott

alanbeattie.bsky.social
Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 1d
This works best if you imagine a delusional eccentric who has watched too many motivational videos shouting at themselves in a mirror.

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 2d
The more cynically minded might view Trump’s reluctant reconciliation with dollar stability - backtracking on Mar a Lago, appointing Warsh, etc - as creating monetary space for greater geopolitical adventurism in 2026

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 2d
A transition not a rupture
peark.es George Pearkes @peark.es · 2d
Trump officially picks Warsh as Fed Chair
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Kevin Warsh to be the CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM. Kevin currently serves as the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, and Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a Partner of Stanley Druckenmiller at Duquesne Family Office LLC. Kevin received his A.B. from Stanford University, and J.D. from Harvard Law School. He has conducted extensive research in the field of Economics and Finance. Kevin issued an Independent Report to the Bank of England proposing reforms in the conduct of Monetary Policy in the United Kingdom. Parliament adopted the Report's recommendations. Kevin Warsh became the youngest Fed Governor, ever, at 35, and served as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 until 2011, as the Federal Reserve's Representative to the Group of Twenty (G-20), and as the Board's Emissary to the Emerging and Advanced Economies in Asia. In addition, he was Administrative Governor, managing and overseeing the Board's operations, personnel, and financial performance. Prior to his appointment to the Board, from 2002 until 2006, Kevin served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and Executive Secretary of the White House National Economic Council. Previously, Kevin was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Morgan Stanley & Co., in New York, serving as Vice President and Executive Director. I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best. On top of everything else, he is “central casting,” and he will never let you down. Congratulations Kevin! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP 27 ReTruths 90 Likes Jan 30, 2026, 6:48 AM

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 2d
So we started Trump’s ‘Janarchy’ with Maduro, detoured via Greenland and Davos, and end with Kevin Warsh

Agency meets structure, a love story

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 2d
Wait
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
How a billionaire with interests in Greenland encouraged Trump to acquire the territory
US president’s friend Ronald Lauder – who first proposed Arctic expansion – is now making deals in the island
www.theguardian.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 2d
Capital called, it wants the Fed back

Reposted by James Scott

financialtimes.com
Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 2d
Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair nominee forged by the 2008 financial crisis ft.trib.al/sdyW6DT
Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair nominee forged by the 2008 financial crisis
Trump’s pick will take the reins of the world’s top central bank during one of the most consequential periods in its history
ft.trib.al

Reposted by James Scott

peark.es
George Pearkes @peark.es · 2d
Trump officially picks Warsh as Fed Chair
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Kevin Warsh to be the CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM. Kevin currently serves as the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, and Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a Partner of Stanley Druckenmiller at Duquesne Family Office LLC. Kevin received his A.B. from Stanford University, and J.D. from Harvard Law School. He has conducted extensive research in the field of Economics and Finance. Kevin issued an Independent Report to the Bank of England proposing reforms in the conduct of Monetary Policy in the United Kingdom. Parliament adopted the Report's recommendations. Kevin Warsh became the youngest Fed Governor, ever, at 35, and served as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 until 2011, as the Federal Reserve's Representative to the Group of Twenty (G-20), and as the Board's Emissary to the Emerging and Advanced Economies in Asia. In addition, he was Administrative Governor, managing and overseeing the Board's operations, personnel, and financial performance. Prior to his appointment to the Board, from 2002 until 2006, Kevin served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and Executive Secretary of the White House National Economic Council. Previously, Kevin was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Morgan Stanley & Co., in New York, serving as Vice President and Executive Director. I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best. On top of everything else, he is “central casting,” and he will never let you down. Congratulations Kevin! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP 27 ReTruths 90 Likes Jan 30, 2026, 6:48 AM

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 3d
Narratives of dollar declinism also underestimate the probability that dominance actually strengthens: not because the US suddenly rediscovers functional politics but scale of geoeconomic risks facing Europe (far right, Russia) and China (debt mountain, energy constraints)
Don’t bet on dollar dethronement
If you want to see how entrenched the US currency is in the global system, look at the foreign exchange swap market
www.ft.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 3d
What has arguably changed is that the quiet politics of finance now confronts not just the noisy but the personalist, vengeful and extractive politics of MAGA

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 3d
An element of trying to reinvent the wheel here when theories of instrumental power / power of inaction vs structural power of markets still does a pretty good job
Chartbook 431 Convening, staging, acting ... and was it never about Greenland and mainly about the Fed? Which Davos-theory won?
To matter or not to matter?
open.substack.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 4d
Great, thanks Jens

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 4d
True, although I was also thinking of shadow money instruments, like MMF shares (which are stablecoin like) backed by bonds, repos, commercial paper, etc, which would presumably rely on private tokenisation

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 5d
Obviously the post-2008 lesson is that all this private offshore credit ultimately needs to be backstopped with CB money via digital dollar swap lines, repo, etc. In which case ‘full spectrum digital dominance’ for the dollar means CBDC + stablecoins + tokenisation are complements not substitutes

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 5d
One for
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Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 5d
So maybe there’s a structural logic to the US Genius Act, driven by the needs of shadow finance.

Whereas CBDCs make more sense for Europe and China with much less private / offshore issuance.

But then doesn’t this constrain the further internationalisation of the euro / renminbi? 🧐

Ends.

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 5d
But I don’t see how you digitalise the dollar-based shadow financial system without the vast issuance of private stablecoins or tokenised assets covering MMF shares, repos, etc.

Am I missing something? 3/n

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 5d
How do you digitalise the offshore dollar system or private / shadow money?

Retail and wholesale CBDCs work for pure public (cash) and public-private money (commercial bank liabilities). 2/n

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 5d
Looking to crowdsource some ideas / comments.

Thinking about why the US has not pursued a CBDC - aside from domestic political opposition - and the extent to which this reflects a structural logic of full spectrum global dollar dominance. 1/n

🧵

Reposted by Benjamin Braun, Duncan Bell, James Scott , and 3 more

hetanshah.bsky.social
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 9d
‘The more that other countries look to escape US financial coercion, the more the US will scale it up… The global dollar system may now be a source of instability rather than stability.’ Our new paper by
@dsquareddigest.bsky.social & @himself.bsky.social
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/60...
Cover of discussion paper ‘The US dollar system as a source of international disorder’

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 9d
Expanding e-CNY usage a feature of the sequencing & acceleration of digital innovation driven by global monetary competition

If interest-bearing CBDCs spread from China to Europe, expect yield-bearing $ stablecoins to follow close behind
What to watch as China prepares its digital yuan for prime time
The changes China is implementing around the e-CNY signal a shift toward a much broader geopolitical ambition.
www.atlanticcouncil.org

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 10d
Certainly reads that way but then the genie is out of the bottle. Interesting speculation about HK role as international interface and parallel rails to m-Bridge

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 10d
Theory #3. Davos has proven its worth this week as 1) an on-and-off ramp for MAGA to interface with transnational club governance, and 2) a political antenna for separating the signal from the noise, creating space for TACO
Chartbook 428 To matter or not to matter: Two theories of Davos 2026.
There are two takes on the annual World Economic Forum meeting convening in Davos this week.
open.substack.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 10d
China’s quiet launch of an interest-bearing CBDC this month could be far more consequential for the future of the dollar and international monetary system than any of Trump’s shenanigans this week

Over to you, Brussels?
www.forbes.com/sites/digita...
China’s Digital RMB: Trillion-Dollar Shift In Payment And Crypto Rails
China has upgraded the digital Yuan to pay interest, marking a shift in CBDC design with implications for banks, payments, and cross-border trade.
www.forbes.com

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Steve Peers, James Scott

peark.es
George Pearkes @peark.es · 11d
Oh man Rutte absolutely pulled one over on Donnie, looking forward to hearing what BS he offered up.

Dollar HOD on this and stocks ripping.
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations — They will report directly to me. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DONALD J. TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 162 ReTruths 518 Likes Jan 21, 2026, 2:27 PM

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 11d
The jury must still be out on whether it is really constructive to provide such a public platform for these competing political worlds to so violently collide

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 11d
Part of the challenge for Davos is that Trump and MAGA insist on treating these global fora as an extension of zero-sum domestic politics rather than self-contained world of technocratic transnationalism
drscottjames.bsky.social Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 13d
Interesting test of whether and how the WEF can be adapted and repurposed for an era of de-institutionalised / non-rule based global governance defined by interpersonal networks, transnational cliques, patronage and ad hoc deal making www.politico.eu/article/davo...
How Davos went MAGA
U.S. President Donald Trump’s star turn signals a new era for the World Economic Forum.
www.politico.eu

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 11d
I’d also be in. Currently looking at the prospect of digital currency wars - Genius Act, dollarisation of EMs and ⬆️ captive demand for Treasuries - or whether this is all pie in the crypto sky? Brussels definitely taking the threat seriously though

Reposted by James Scott

thunen.bsky.social
herman mark schwartz @thunen.bsky.social · 11d
some 2023 # s for the de-dollarization debate re selling off USD securities. equity share probably up to 50% now given market ⬆️ and $ ⬇️. the "60%" you sometimes hear is not accurate.
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