Executives at the International Monetary Fund Thursday called for a global platform for cross-border CBDC payments, and reiterated calls to regulate a crypto sector that officials say is volatile.
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Tobias Adrian, director of the IMF’s monetary and capital markets department, wants the IMF to develop a new system to cut the costs of international transfers. The platform would accept CBDC payments, hold them in escrow and issue tokens against them, he said.
“The private sector would be able to extend the uses of the platform by writing smart contracts,” Adrian said, promising further papers on how the world’s central banks could work together on the project.
Figures published by the IMF suggest that about 97 countries are researching, testing or deploying a CBDC, raising the question about how the different CBDCs would work together to enable cross-border payments – a process that would be costly and unreliable under the current, traditional finance system known as correspondent banking.
Also Read: IMF Calls For Global Guide Towards Regulating and Adoption Cryptocurrency
In March, a project that included Australia and South Africa concluded that cross-border CBDC platforms are “technically viable,” but officials have been more skeptical about the potential of a private crypto firm taking over the reins.
