The International Monetary Fund continues to explore the possibilities of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, CoinDesk reports.
IMF presented the internal report “Fintech and financial services: initial review”. The document is focused on the following topics: international transfers using blockchain and issuance of cryptocurrency by the central banks of the states.
Cryptocurrency of central banks
Encouraged by the achievements of distributed registry technologies, central banks began to look for an opportunity to issue their own cryptocurrency. The document specifies several reasons why the central banks want to do this. First of all, cryptocurrencies will allow banks to perform their role more efficiently, providing a reliable payment infrastructure. The second reason is to maintain the role of the main regulators.
“The growing popularity of private cryptocurrencies leads to weakening of the importance of the central banks, which could undermine the mechanism of monetary policy. The introduction of their own cryptocurrencies by central banks will confirm their dominant role on domestic markets and prevent contraction of the demand for fiat money”, the document says.
International transfers using blockchain
The report states that international transfers are fully prepared for the blockchain implementation. According to the authors of the report, this technology can completely change the mechanism of operations, as the Internet did once.
In particular, currently, international payments require a network of intermediary banks (often commercial banks), between which a cooperation agreement has been concluded. Distributed registry technology will allow to avoid unnecessary bureaucratic delays and decrease service fees.
“In the era of the Internet, there is no difference between sending a message to a recipient at home or abroad: the action takes place in one click. Perhaps, in the future it will be applicable to international payments as well,” authors of the document report.
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