IMF Says Only 23% of Central Banks Can Legally Issue Digital Currencies
Researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have examined the central bank laws of 174 IMF members to answer the question of whether a digital currency is really money. They found that of all the central banks studied, only about 23%, or 40 central banks, “are legally allowed to issue digital currencies.” IMF Explores if Digital Currency Is Money The IMF published a blog post on Thursday exploring whether digital money is really money in the legal sense. The post is authored by Catalina Margulis, a consulting counsel in the IMF Legal Department’s Financial and....
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According to a recent press release, central banks are working on issuing digital cash to counter the rising Bitcoin. A philanthropic investment firm-Omidyar Network-today announced its investment in eCurrency Mint, a relatively unknown start-up developing a technology that enables central banks to issue their digital fiat currency called eCurrency. According to a WSJ report, founder and chief executive of eCM, Jonathan Dharmapalan, said that the start-up has held meeting with over 30 central banks, of which two have agreed to issue the digital currency. eCurrency will have the same legal....
Central banks are rushing into digital currencies without considering how the risks might outweigh any benefits, the column argues.