The US Treasury market, now worth $32tn, traces its origins to medieval Venice, a military disaster, and a forced loan. A war against the Byzantine Empire led to pestilence, defeat, and the brutal murder of the Doge on the streets of Venice. Yet from this crisis emerged a transformative financial tool: a tradable loan offering transparency and accountability.

In a live recording from New York, Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth explore the world’s first tradable bond. They examine why bonds remain the ultimate check on government power and what 12th-century Venice teaches us about modern market turmoil. The episode is part of *The Story of Money* podcast, with further reading in Wigglesworth’s book, *A Fabulous Debt: How Bonds Made the Modern World*.