As Facebook advances its plan for a new cryptocurrency – Libra – we ask what the fintech revolution means for national security. Will a major player like Facebook take crypto mainstream, and if so, how could that reshape global financial flows and economic power?

In this National Security Podcast, Katherine Mansted explores what is shaping the cryptocurrency landscape - from the invisible creators of Bitcoin, to nation-states with a penchant for fintech innovation. We discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of Facebook’s proposed new cryptocurrency, Libra, as well as the other crypto actors on the scene.

Chris Zappone is Digital Foreign Editor at The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, where his writing focuses on the interplay between technology, politics, economics, and the future.

Elise Thomas is a Researcher working with ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre. She has previously worked as a freelance journalist, including writing for Wired, Guardian Australia, SBS, Crikey and The Interpreter.

Katherine Mansted is a senior adviser at the National Security College and non-resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

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