ING economist: The US has most to lose in war of digital currencies

The US dollar's position as the unrivalled global currency means it has the most at stake should central banks begin to issue their own digital currencies, according to ING economist Carlos Cocuzzo. "If there's anybody that stands to lose in this game, it's really the US," Cocuzzo has said at Blockchain Week 2020 in London. 90% of the world's foreign exchange turnover runs on dollars, meaning it pervades into the economies of almost every country. This is in light of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell recently stating that Facebook's Libra project "really lit a fire," highlighting the concern the US would have for widespread issuance of digital currencies. Cocuzzo uses the example of Ukraine, where a lot of domestic transaction are carried out in dollars. "Ukraine is a highly dollarised economy. People use dollars to make purchases as well as hryvnia, the local currency."