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COBOL processes $3 trillion in daily commerce.

Money & markets

COBOL processes $3 trillion in daily commerce.

11 min

Billions in global transactions still rely on a programming language from 1959 that almost no one under fifty knows how to code. It is the story of how technical debt became the load-bearing pillar of the modern financial system.

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Show notes

Analysis of COBOL's role in processing $3 trillion in daily commerce.

The technical challenges of migrating legacy banking systems.

The demographic crisis of retiring COBOL programmers.

How AI tools like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot are being used for legacy modernization.

Case studies including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the New Jersey unemployment system.

In this episode

  1. 1Intro1 min
  2. 2The Three Trillion Dollar Ghost2 min
  3. 3The Architecture of Permanence3 min
  4. 4The Demographic Time Bomb2 min
  5. 5The AI Hail Mary3 min
  6. 6Outro1 min

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COBOL processes $3 trillion in daily commerce. — Fylom