By far the most prominent is Libra, Facebook’s planned cryptocurrency, which the platform announced 10 days ago. The idea is that, starting next year, Facebook users could message and receive money through WhatsApp, Facebook’s Messenger, or standalone apps. As Axios’ Kia Kokalitcheva wrote, “With more than two billion users, Facebook is arguably better positioned to roll out a global digital currency than any other company, government, or organization.”
But, in a white paper released today, the IMF and the World Bank said that several central banks are also in the game — they are on the verge of launching digital currencies like Bitcoin. They include the central banks of Sweden, the Bahamas, and the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. European Central Bank officials have also thrown their support behind the issuance of a digital currency.
“We are going through a digital transformation in banking. It is accelerating due to these new technologies,” Tobias Adrian, director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, tells Axios.
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