Two weeks ago, the UK ushered in a new prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
Formerly running the country’s finances and the richest of all former UK leaders, Mr Sunak is seen by many as a crypto-friendly figure.
However, digging a little deeper, it seems the new prime minister is primarily a proponent of central bank digital currencies — or CBDCs.
While the idea of CBDCs stems from blockchain technology, there are many reasons why they are not the same as cryptocurrencies.
The idea of a retail central bank digital currency dates as far back as 1987, when it was proposed by Nobel laureate James Tobin.
However, practical attempts to launch CBDCs didn’t materialise until 2014, spearheaded by China.
It took China six years before it was finally ready to test its digital yuan project, led by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), in four of its largest cities: Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an and Chengdu.
Since then, its transaction volume has reached $14 billion (100bn yuan).
China’s central bank launched the “digital yuan” project as a solution to reduce transaction costs and make payments more efficient.
Feedback on the project has confirmed this use case, but concerns have been raised over the level of control CBDCs allow.
For example, in some cases, citizens have a limited time to spend their digital money, risking a complete loss of their savings if they fail to do so. This discourages saving for the future, opponents warn.
Meanwhile, some banks have also expressed concerns that CBDCs could undermine their role in the financial ecosystem, increasing the risk of a potential bank run.
CBDCs vs crypto
Many governments across the world are moving towards CBDCs.
About 105 countries, representing more than 95 per cent of global gross domestic product, are now exploring CBDCs.
This includes 19 of the G20 countries, with 10 countries having already launched their own digital currencies.
One of these countries is Nigeria, which brought out its digital currency — the eNaira — a year ago.
However, its anniversary is a bittersweet one for the Nigerian government, as recent figures show that only 0.5 per cent of its population is using the eNaira today.
Yet, it isn’t a general mistrust of cryptocurrency that is keeping the local population from using CBDCs.
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Watch: what is Bitcoin and how did it start?
Nigeria is one of the leading countries globally for cryptocurrency adoption, despite a government ban on cryptocurrency trades in 2021.
Nigerians prefer to use cryptocurrencies for inflation protection and for the financial freedoms they afford, but the eNaira does not provide this benefit.
Amid economic woes in Nigeria and rampant inflation, which reached a new high of 20.77 per cent in September, it is no surprise that digital assets are enjoying more popularity than the languishing fiat alternative.
However, this is the case not only in Nigeria but around the globe as central banks struggle to keep a lid on rising prices.
At the same time, while it remains unclear what shape CBDCs will take in countries such as the US, it is indisputable that they are coming.
[We need] a truly depoliticised, censorship-resistant, decentralised world currency that is not subject to inflation or state control.
Stefan Rust
CBDCs could allow governments to control exactly what you spend money on.
As history shows, some may be prone to abuse this power. We need only remember that time last year when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau froze the bank accounts of those protesting against the Covid-19 vaccine mandates to put things into perspective.
This is exactly the reason why the world needs a new global form of digital money that is not linked to any one fiat currency; a truly depoliticised, censorship-resistant, decentralised world currency that is not subject to inflation or other restrictions.
Stefan Rust is the founder of Laguna Labs, a blockchain development house, and former chief executive of bitcoin.com
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
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Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
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Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
List of alleged parties
May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members
May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party
Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
Gavin Williamson
Dec 13 2020: PM and Carrie throw a flat party
Dec 14 2020: London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative
Party headquarters
Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
UNpaid bills:
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN budget in 2019
USA – $1.055 billion
Brazil – $143 million
Argentina – $52 million
Mexico – $36 million
Iran – $27 million
Israel – $18 million
Venezuela – $17 million
Korea – $10 million
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN peacekeeping operations in 2019
USA – $2.38 billion
Brazil – $287 million
Spain – $110 million
France – $103 million
Ukraine – $100 million
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score)
Porto (0) v Liverpool (2), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
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Correspondents
By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
The specs
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Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
THREE
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How to improve Arabic reading in early years
One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient
The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers
Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades
Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic
First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations
Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades
Improve the appearance of textbooks
Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings
Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught
Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
