IMF Director Snubs Crypto and Thinks CBDC Are the Future of Money
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) seems to be concerned about the rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies and to be doing anything to prevent further uprising of the digital assets, which would effectively diminish the institution’s control on nation states.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington D.C. last week, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said that crypto assets and stablecoins are no match for well-designed central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). She said:
“If CBDCs are designed prudently, they can potentially offer more resilience, more safety, greater availability, and lower costs than private forms of digital money.”
She added:
“That is clearly the case when compared to unbacked crypto assets that are inherently volatile. And even the better managed and regulated stablecoins may not be quite a match against a stable and well‑designed central bank digital currency.”
The IMF director noted that roughly 100 countries are planning the launch of CBDCs and that the IMF is working closely with them:
“The IMF is deeply involved in this issue, including through providing technical assistance to many members. An important role for the Fund is to promote exchange of experience and support the interoperability of CBDCs.”
Snubbing Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in her delivery, she concluded:
“The history of money is entering a new chapter. Countries are seeking to preserve key aspects of their traditional monetary and financial systems, while experimenting with new digital forms of money.”
The IMF’s advise for El Salvador, the world’s first Bitcoin nation, to abandon the top cryptocurrency as a legal tender, got crushed by the country’s Finance Minister recently. Alejandro Zelaya had said:
“No international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all.
Countries are sovereign nations and they take sovereign decisions about public policy.”
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Source: igaming
