Facebook’s cryptocurrency — not such a bad idea after all? – The Minefield

In June this year, Facebook announced that it was going to be spearheading the creation of a global digital currency. It’s called Libra. And nobody seems to think it is a good idea.

It’s no wonder. The unrivalled size of Facebook; the corporate, civic and political power it can (and regularly does) exert; the contempt it has repeatedly shown towards attempts to hold it responsible for the role it has played in fomenting democratic dysfunction and ethnic violence; the brazenness of disregard for public trust in its pursuit of profit and total market dominance — these rightly make lawmakers reticent about giving more power to a company that already boasts of being “more like a government.”

But Facebook’s case isn’t without merit. Quite apart from the undeniable benefit that a ‘low-friction’, ‘low volatility’ e-currency would bring to poor and developing nations, does this foray into the world of banking and finance signal Facebook’s intention to move away from its…