Facebook’s Digital Currency Venture “Diem”: the new Frontier ... or a Galaxy far, far away?

Abstract

Thanks to technological advances, new forms of electronic currency are now possible and already available. In particular, distributed ledger-based digital “blockchain” technology now offers a secure transaction-oriented system free from censorship and control by central government powers. This technology, invented by a pseudonymous figure (or team) “Satoshi Nakamoto”, has allowed so-called “cryptocurrencies”, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple, to create a new digital economy. Due to their “decentralized” character, these cryptocurrencies are poised to potentially disrupt national and central bank-backed “fiat currencies” (see note 1) around the world.