During her opening speech at the Singapore FinTech Festival, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged the public sector to \u201ckeep preparing to deploy\u201d central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and related payment platforms in the future.<\/p>\n
Georgieva expressed her optimism toward the implementation of CBDCs around the globe, although making a reservation that \u201cwe have not yet reached the land\u201d and there is still much uncertainty:<\/p>\n
The executive believes that CBDCs can replace cash, offer resilience in advanced economies and improve financial inclusion in the underbanked communities. According to Georgieva, CBDCs can co-exist with \u201cprivate money,\u201d being its \u201csafe and low-cost alternative.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Related: <\/u><\/em><\/strong>IMF director urges \u2018financial inclusion\u2019 via digitalization<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Georgieva also highlighted the importance of technological infrastructure in CBDC projects, personal data protection and even the possible role of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing the national digital currencies. She put a particular emphasis on cross-border payment support:<\/p>\n The IMF head\u00a0presented its CBDC virtual handbook and marked the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) role in the public sector\u2019s digital money experiments.\u00a0<\/p>\n The IMF has recently been active in its analysis of necessary crypto regulations. On Sept. 29, it proposed a crypto-risk assessment matrix (C-RAM) for countries to spot indicators and triggers of potential risks in the sector.<\/p>\n The IMF\u2019s Synthesis paper \u2014 jointly prepared with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) \u2014 was unanimously adopted by the \u201cG20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Communique\u201d in October.<\/p>\n\u201cTo the extent CBDCs are deployed, they must be built to facilitate cross-border payments, which are at present expensive, slow, and available to few. Again, we must start this work today so we don\u2019t have to backpedal tomorrow.\u201d<\/h3>\n