In efforts to combat cybercrime and explore new technology to boost social and economic growth, the Commonwealth has formed a specialist group to investigate the opportunities and challenges presented by virtual currencies such as Bitcoin.
The Commonwealth Virtual Currencies Working Group will meet for the first time from 24 -26 August in London to develop more robust measures to manage these currencies. The group is made up of the following members: The Commonwealth Secretariat, Australia, Barbados, Kenya, Nigeria, Singapore, Tonga and the UK, together with the IMF, World Bank, Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Virtual currencies are digital representations of value that can be traded and exchanged anonymously between online communities. While providing certain benefits such as reduced transactions costs for remittances and micro-payments, they also carry a degree of risk. This is because of their susceptibility to fraud and hacking, and the anonymous nature of transactions leaves them open to criminal exploitation.
The following points will be explored:
Social media: @commonwealthsec #virtualcurrencies #endfraud #blockchain