Saturday, December 27, 2025
ADVT 
National

Feds uneasy with Facebook cryptocurrency: Document

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Mar, 2021 05:58 PM
  • Feds uneasy with Facebook cryptocurrency: Document

Internal Finance Department documents show officials have deep concerns about the effect of Facebook's planned digital currency on Canada's financial stability.

Officials wrote in the briefing note last summer that they believed the company had yet to address multiple concerns and risks its digital currency posed to the financial system.

The July briefing note, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, also says the government was working on options to ease the risks.

Officials appeared less concerned about rivals like Bitcoin, which the briefing note says has not played a large role in everyday transactions in Canada for various reasons.

Unlike Bitcoin, Facebook's offering would be a "stablecoin" whose value would be less volatile, and could be easily used by hundreds of millions of the social media giant's users upon release.

The ease of use and stability of value are among the reasons governments and central banks like the Bank of Canada have taken a keen interest in the currency.

MORE National ARTICLES

Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine is looking 90% effective

Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine is looking 90% effective
Pfizer, which is developing the vaccine with its German partner BioNTech, now is on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine is looking 90% effective

Terry Fox on shortlist for new $5 bill

Terry Fox on shortlist for new $5 bill
Fox is among the eight names the Bank of Canada has sent to the government as it considers who should be featured on the bank note when it gets a redesign next year.

Terry Fox on shortlist for new $5 bill

PM pledges $1.75B to boost high-speed internet

PM pledges $1.75B to boost high-speed internet
The Universal Broadband Fund that was part of the Liberal budget announcement in early 2019, months before last year's federal election, has taken longer than expected to be officially launched.

PM pledges $1.75B to boost high-speed internet

Canada ready to fight U.S. protectionism: Trudeau

Canada ready to fight U.S. protectionism: Trudeau
Trudeau says in an Ottawa news conference today that U.S. barriers to Canadian imports hurt Canadian businesses and workers but they hurt Americans, too.

Canada ready to fight U.S. protectionism: Trudeau

Police cite crime dip in first months of pandemic

Police cite crime dip in first months of pandemic
Statistics Canada says 17 police services across Canada reported that selected criminal incidents were down by 17 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier.

Police cite crime dip in first months of pandemic

Airline bailout may rely on scorned loan program

Airline bailout may rely on scorned loan program
The program offers loans of $60 million or more to large companies facing cash problems, but comes with an interest rate that jumps to eight per cent from five per cent after the first year — far above typical private-sector lending rates.

Airline bailout may rely on scorned loan program