When money went rogue: banking in 19th-century frontier America

In 19th-century America almost anyone could print their own money – and many did. One of the most notable figures to take this up was a man named James Brown, a charismatic conman who built a fortune producing fake banknotes. In this episode of The Story of Money, Stephen Mihm, a professor of history at the University of Georgia, introduces hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth to “the hardest working man in counterfeiting”. They discuss the parallels between banking in the Wild West and the advent of cryptocurrencies today, and the role trust plays in all financial systems. Further reading: A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States, by Stephen Mihm (2007) The Square and Tower: Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power, by Niall Ferguson (2018) To enjoy future episodes, be sure to

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When money went rogue: banking in 19th-century frontier America is an episode from Behind The Money with the Financial Times by Topher Forhecz.

This episode is 56:10 long.

This episode was published on May 6, 2026.

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