International Monetary Fund (IMF) is of the view that virtual currencies like that of Bitcoin and others pose potential risk and dangers because they are issued by not the central banks but private individuals and networks. IMF also denies that Bitcoin can be an alternate to a “national currency” instead it suggests that those who are considering giving legal tender to Bitcoin are ill-advised and mistaken. However, IMF’s comments drew the crypto community’s criticism who denied the arguments raised by IMF.
A tweet message on the subject of crypto was issued from the official Twitter account of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In this tweet post, IMF suggested that Bitcoin or any other virtual currency of its kind poses grave risks and danger. IMF explained that normally a “currency” is issued by a central bank of a country. However, in the case of virtual currencies, they are primarily issued by private individuals as well as private networks. On this basis, virtual currencies should not and cannot be considered for awarding any legal tender. They simply cannot erode the need of “national currency” per se, opined IMF.
It was found that IMF’s tweet was issued in context with a blog posted on 26th July by IMF’s two senior law attorneys. This very blog post was published under the name “Cryptoassets as National Currency? A Step Too Far”. The blog contained detailed analysis on cryptocurrencies being considered by countries as “legal tender”. The writing piece duly explained the risks involved in adopting cryptocurrencies through legal tenderization. The blog explained that one of the major risks “legal tender” poses is that it could jeopardize a country’s monetary policy. For instance, the central bank would not be able to determine rates which it would want to fix upon foreign currencies individually.
However, neither the opinion of IMF nor the blog post of its senior legal attorney were appreciated at all by the crypto community. One of the users at Twitter commented that IMF is pushing an agenda in which IMF wants to deliberately frame Bitcoin. The user alleged that IMF is trying to agitate that Bitcoin is being issued privately in an attempt to dishonor Bitcoin’s authenticity over fiat. The user even went on to contradict IMF’s opinion by saying that in fact it is the fiat currencies which are essentially issued clandestinely.
Some criticizers of IMF argued that IMF has lost total senses because each currency of the world has substantial risks. It would therefore be wrong to advise that Bitcoin or even every digital currency per se has “substantial risks”. One of them argued that even the world’s reserve currency i.e. USD too has its own risks and danger. Particularly, when USD loans are given to inter-state entities which are notorious for bankrupting several countries of the world.
There was one user who claimed that in the next 10 years, the world will get rid of the thing called “IMF”.
