New Delhi, Jan. 25 -- Humankind has shown broad acceptance of three different kinds of currencies: widely-acceptable fiat currency (like the dollar or Indian rupee), extinct commodity-based currency (gold and silver coins, or even wheat bushels) and an emerging class of digital currency (such as stablecoins or central bank digital currencies or CBDCs). A fourth class of currency is being minted and popularized by US President Donald Trump: influence. This has special significance for India.

Trump appears to be trading influence-in his personal as well as national capacity-to gain a variety of benefits for himself and the US. Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado recently traded in her Nobel Peace Prize: she gifted it to Trump, appar...