Virtual Facebook currency faces real-world resistance

LONDON: If Facebook’s new cryptocurrency should resonate anywhere it should be India, where the social media giant has more than 300 million followers.

Many Indians are shut out of banking and face punitive fees for simple transactions, like transferring money to their loved ones.

But in India as elsewhere, the US company’s ambitions to remake global finance through its “Libra” currency will have to overcome regulatory mistrust, plus the existence of popular homegrown rivals in the market for digital payments.