2015 brought with it philosophical questions for the FOM award:

The complexity of the modern world means there are a great many trade-offs to be made when designing mechanisms of exchange.  In the past, the functionality of money was to a large extent dictated by the limits of technology.  The physical properties of a currency informed how it could be used.  In contrast, today’s technologists can build any type of electronic monetary systems. Employing any type of functionality that adheres to any ideological foundation.

Should a payment card act as a policeman or an anarchist?  A Bitcoin imbued with reactionary ideals or an M-PESA that aims at non-bank inclusion?  Should payments be anonymous or tracked?  Opaque or transparent? Almost any functionality can be created to the extent that, the limits to monetary development are not technological. The limits are bound within the social realm and are tangled within ethical philosophical questions that arise through living.