First central banks ignored cryptocurrencies, then they mocked them, next they fought them and now they are building their own. Before long central bank digital currencies will be in use, with possibly startling consequences. What will it mean for privacy and personal freedoms? And could the backstop to banking become the banking system itself?

Cryptocurrencies have a specific use-case in countries where local currencies are in crisis, but elsewhere they remain a volatile speculative investment and will struggle to take off as a means of payment.

Facebook has come in for some robust criticism since the announcement of its Libra digital currency.

The political and regulatory backlash has driven leading payments companies out of the Libra association, but a new version of the revolutionary stablecoin may yet appear.

As entrepreneurs seek to improve institutional-grade custody and security for trading in crypto assets, conventional financial market participants remain suspicious.

Regulators, politicians, competition authorities and central bankers have all been outlining objections to the Libra project from the first day Facebook announced plans to let its 2.4 billion users exchange payments in a new virtual currency. Don’t be taken in. Facebook wants the burden of compliance with all those KYC, AML and CFT rules. Being able to identify what its users are paying for is a treasure trove. The banking system and the world’s central banks, as the more enlightened already see, had better gear up for new competition.

For now, the world’s banks are nervously watching Facebook’s move into payments, but one day they may even come to depend on it for their funding.

Libra is designed to improve on the slow, costly and painful process of transferring money across borders through the banking system, but Facebook faces a long fight to launch it.

Front End enjoys the fallout from the 'Tangle in Taipei'.

The Bank of England and Federal Reserve begin to build the bulwarks against Facebook's cryptocurrency Libra.

Arthur Hayes felt the golden days of finance had gone by the time he got started in investment banking in Hong Kong – until cryptocurrency gave him the opportunity to establish platform BitMEX, now one of the most successful bitcoin exchanges in the world.

Some big names are lining up to back Zuckerberg’s new cryptocoin, but why? Potential investors should be wary.

JPMorgan is trying to advance its master plan for global fintech domination with a discipline that is often lacking in a sector better known for wildly over-promising than actually delivering practical solutions.

Forget raising money by selling your crypto tokens, just give them away to as many potential users as possible and raise value through network effects is the new thinking from crypto-land.

Even as the most infamous cryptocurrencies crashed this year, new ones were already emerging, designed to peg their value to fiat currencies. The most popular of the so-called stablecoins, Tether, broke its peg to the dollar in October, raising questions over the best design for these instruments and the worry that they may be just the latest crypto fad to sucker in the unwary. But if they succeed, stablecoins could prove a tipping point for broader crypto adoption and the reinvention of money.

While negative rates fundamentally undermine its domestic lenders, the Alpine nation’s enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies also coincides problematically with threats to its private banks.

Argo offers state of-the-art crypto mining as a service to the little guy but COTI’s trustchain may do away with miners altogether.

Even as the most infamous cryptocurrencies crash, new ones are already emerging that are designed to peg their value to fiat currencies and recover the dream of new forms of money moving on new rails to everyone’s advantage.

Two of the world’s most advanced cryptocurrency markets agree to exchange notes on blockchain regulation.

The prospectus for the forthcoming Hong Kong IPO of Bitmain, which dominates the market for cryptocurrency mining hardware, unveils the highs and lows of businesses linked to bitcoin. It will cause crypto ideals to collide with institutional expectations about business transparency.

Undeterred by the SEC’s recent disapproval of bitcoin ETFs or cryptocurrency price falls, Circle is intent on building a framework for the tokenization of finance with its stablecoin as the next big step.

Cryptocurrencies are still not legal in Russia for now, but that isn’t stopping businesses from preparing to take hold of the future.