“We’re looking at it very carefully,” Powell told an event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Facebook promises the new currency, launching next year, will slash transaction costs and bring more services to people without access to the banking system. To mint and store new coins, access to its underlying “blockchain” technology will be more restrictive than for the free-for-all of bitcoin. Bitcoin itself has got a new lease of life on the back of Facebook’s announcement last week, with its value rising to above $12,000 on Wednesday. Beyond the G20 summit, finance ministers from the G7 club of advanced economies are likely to discuss Libra when they meet in France in mid-July.

Source: The Guardian June 26, 2019 10:18 UTC