Flying Money, Hawala, Hundi: What English Calls Underground Banking
Aeon describes entirely separate payment networks that operate outside state-regulated information assembly lines. The Chinese call them feiqian, or “flying money”; Arabic speakers prefer hawala; the Indian diaspora operates through hundi.
English has an ominous phrase for these networks: underground banking. It may evoke drug dealers, money launderers and corrupted officials.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Take
“Flying money” is a better name than “underground banking” because it describes movement rather than implying a criminal clientele.
Pushback
“Underground” may be the more honest label: the relevant feature is operating outside state-regulated assembly lines, not the poetry of the name.