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Episode details

World Service,10 Sep 2021,23 mins

El Salvador's Bitcoin experiment

Tech Life

Available for over a year

El Salvador becomes the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Cryptocurrency fans celebrate, but will Salvadorans benefit? Rory Cellan-Jones speaks to Alex Gladstein from the Human Rights Foundation, who says Bitcoin can help give citizens of poorer countries more economic freedom. Also on the programme, Facebook's algorithm is accused of perpetuating gender stereotypes in the way it shows job adverts to men and women. Naomi Hirst from the campaign group Global Witness explains. And what will a world powered by artificial intelligence look like in 20 years' time? AI pioneer Kai-Fu Lee paints a picture of life in 2041. (Photo: A woman buys in a store that accepts bitcoins in El Zonte, La Libertad, El Salvador. Credit: Getty Images)

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