(SNews) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just unveiled its central bank digital currency (CBDC) called Unicoin.
The IMF says its CBDC is designed to replace all physical cash to become the single global digital currency used by all sovereign nations.
The organization’s own Universal Monetary Unit (UMU, aka Unicoin) was announced at the IMF’s annual Spring Meetings.
In a statement, the IMF said that UMU functions like a CBDC and is a legal, global money commodity.
The purpose of this particular iteration of a CBDC is to make sure banking regulations are enforced.
The globalized form of “digital cash” also seeks to protect “the financial integrity of the international banking system,” the IMF claims.
This currency will be used by banks via SWIFT codes and bank accounts linked to a UMU digital wallet.
The scheme is supposed to allow for digital cross-border payments modeled after SWIFT.
It promises the best wholesale exchange rates of settlement currencies and real-time settlement, “while bypassing the correspondent banking system.”
At the same time, IMF officials are describing the current cross-border payment system as slow, expensive, and risky, while declaring that UMU’s goal is not to disrupt the international monetary system.
Instead, the IMF insists the move will further “strengthen” it.
Additionally, the IMF looks set on rebranding the term “crypto.”
Crypto, or cryptocurrency, is normally associated with decentralized digital currencies that leave central banks and governments out of the equation.
“Crypto 2.0” is how the IMF would market UMU, and likely, CBCDs in general.
Meanwhile, critics of CBDCs are using strong words to express their opposition to the trend, with some calling it a path toward financial slavery that is always a handy companion to political tyranny.
More criticism has to do with CBDCs being seen as a way of introducing social credit scores and digital IDs, thus having individuals fully ceding to the government control over their own assets and/or the amount they spend.
Unlike cash and decentralized crypto, CBCDs are feared to spell the end of private financial affairs and usher in even more surveillance by the authorities.
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