The IMF Is Going Into Panic Mode As Public Chooses Crypto Over CBDCs

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South Koreans will next year have the opportunity to use deposit tokens based on a CBDC (central bank digital currency) through a pilot program operated by the BOK (Bank of Korea) and financial authorities.

100,000 individuals will purchase goods with deposit tokens issued by commercial banks in the form of CBDCs, similar to using a voucher at stores.

The BOK’s announcements come just one week after Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of IMF (International Monetary Fund), urged countries to be more proactive in their push towards CBDCs.

So far, 11 countries – with some in the Caribbean and including Nigeria – have launched CBDCs. More than 120 countries are exploring CBDCs.

During a speech in Singapore, Georgieva said,

“We may be at a point where the public sector needs to offer a little more guidance. … Not to crowd out, not to disrupt. But to act as a catalyst, to ensure safety and efficiency – and to counter fragmentation.”

The IMF also recently published its first installment of a ‘virtual handbook’ to help countries implement interoperable CBDCs.

Nonetheless, countries that have tried to implement CBDCs have seen little adoption.

Likening the efforts to a nautical journey, Georgieva said,

“If anything, we need to raise another sail to pick up speed. The world is changing faster than most imagined.”

The IMF is scared that failure to agree on a common platform for CBDCs could lead to a vacuum that would likely be filled by cryptocurrency.

The IMF’s warning comes at a time when cryptocurrencies are gaining more mainstream attention and adoption, suggesting they may eventually become a viable alternative to traditional fiat currencies.

Cryptocurrencies could fill the vacuum left by lack of agreement

If cryptocurrencies – which are decentralized and not tied to any government or central authority – fill a vacuum left by a lack of CBDCs and become the preferred means of exchange for international trade, then the entire global financial system could be revolutionized.

Cryptocurrencies can offer faster and cheaper transactions than traditional financial systems, with the added benefit of increased privacy.

The IMF warns that this could create chaos in the financial markets. However, in a world where governments and central banks manage the global economy already, chaos seems to pretty much be the rule anyway – war, inflation, currency collapses, corporate welfare,…