It is difficult to overstate the importance of the announcement by Facebook in June 2019 that it intended to launch a multicurrency stablecoin, a new digital currency called Libra for general cross-border payment use. Indeed, one commentator has likened the impact of the Libra announcement on central banks to the sudden arrival off Tokyo harbour in 1853 of the ‘black ships of evil appearance’ - a modern, irresistible US fleet – that led quickly to the collapse of a centuries-old ruling system and to the opening up of Japan.1 For the previous decade, central banks and financial regulators had been watching, with a ... (full story)