The US branding China a ‘currency manipulator’ threatens global stability

“Donald Trump”by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Winnie King, University of Bristol

The US has escalated its trade war with China by accusing the country of devaluing its currency to make its exports unfairly cheap. When China’s currency, the renminbi (RMB) fell below the symbolic seven-per-dollar level on August 5, President Donald Trump reacted by labelling China a currency manipulator on Twitter. His Treasury department followed suit, making it the official government position. Continue reading

Facebook’s Libra: it’s not the ‘crypto’ that’s the issue, it’s the organisation behind it

The founding partners of the Libra Association.
Ascannio / Shutterstock.com

Bill Maurer, University of California, Irvine and Daniel Tischer, University of Bristol

In all the hype that has surrounded its Libra currency, Facebook has been able to distract attention away from an important issue. Libra is being hyped as Facebook’s bitcoin but it’s really a proposal for a global payments system. And that system will be controlled by a small and exclusive club of private firms. Continue reading