These companies are mostly platform businesses that facilitate interactions between different types of users of their platform. They have very large user bases, benefiting from strong network effects that can make it hard for competitors. Data analysis is part of their DNA and they have become increasingly effective at commercialising the value of data they collect and analyse.
Solving these paradoxes and peering into the future requires us to review some of the conceptual and empirical issues that underlie international currency status. This is what I will be doing in my speech today. 1. Theoretical definition and determinants  Consider first the definition of an international currency and the theoretical determinants of international currency status.