The International Monetary Fund, or IMF, plans to “step up” its monitoring of digital currencies, according to a report by Reuters. This intent, as published in an IMF paper Thursday, details how the fund plans to “manage this far-reaching and complex transition” toward a digitized economy. “Rapid technological innovation is ushering in a new era of public and private digital money,” the report reads, highlighting the benefits of digital assets. “Payments will become easier, faster, cheaper, and more accessible, and will cross borders swiftly. These improvements could foster efficiency and inclusion, with major benefits for all.” Related: IMF plans to …

Amid the Bank of Russia continuing progressing with its central bank digital currency (CBDC) development, one survey suggested that few Russians are ready to accept salary payments in the digital ruble. Almost half of the Russian respondents strongly objected to receiving salaries in the digital ruble in a new survey by local recruitment site HeadHunter. Only 11% of respondents said that they were ready to get salaried in the digital ruble, while 41% indicated that they were “categorically opposed” to being paid in the CBDC, local news agency Izvestia reported on Wednesday. As Russia is preparing to roll out digital …

Rich Checkan, president of Asset Strategies International (ASI), has described central bank digital currencies (CBDC) as a product that was “concocted in hell by Satan himself.” ASI was founded in 1982 and deals in alternative assets, such as precious metals, foreign currencies and pre-1933 United States gold coins, and offers a precious metals trading platform. Speaking during an interview with streaming financial news provider Kitco News on Tuesday, Checkan slammed CBDCs due to the threat they posed to individual privacy, noting they give the state the ability to monitor every transaction you make and track your entire life. “I think …

Cryptocurrency adoption is growing in Singapore, especially among younger generations looking to capitalize on the generational wealth potential of Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets, according to the inaugural 2021 Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index, or IRCI, a survey conducted by Asia-Pacific cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve. The survey, which is based on a poll of 1,000 Singaporeans from a representative background of gender, age and location, revealed that 43% of the polled respondents said they owned cryptocurrency, with 46% planning to buy digital assets in the next 12 months. Two-thirds, or 66%, of respondents in the 26 to 45 age bracket …

The quest to understand the opportunities and challenges of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is underway in 81 countries, with five nations fully implementing a digital version of their currency, according to a new CBDC tracker from the Atlantic Council. The Caribbean region is home to all five CBDCs that are currently in use, with the Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, and Grenada all implementing digital cash systems. CBDCs are in their pilot stage in 14 other countries, including South Korea and Sweden, the tracker shows. Established in 1961, the Atlantic Council describes …

For much of 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been in the headlines for its anti-cryptocurrency measures. Yet, the institution has this week redoubled its investment and research into crypto’s underlying technology, blockchain, and has set a clear date for the pilot scheme of its blockchain-powered central bank digital currency (CBDC). On Oct. 1, CBN will reportedly launch a pilot scheme for “GIANT,” a CBDC project in development since 2017 that runs on the open-source blockchain Hyperledger Fabric. Rakiya Mohammed, CBN’s information technology director, said the bank might conduct a proof-of-concept before the end of 2021. In a …

The Reserve Bank of India, or RBI, continues to investigate the issuance of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. T Rabi Sankar, the deputy governor of RBI, said in a speech organized by the Vidhi Center for Legal Policy that private digital currencies could be part of what makes CBDCs ultimately necessary. He felt that the RBI’s development of it’s own CBDC could provide the public with many of the same uses as digital currencies such as Bitcoin, while limiting the average user’s exposure to volatility. He stated: “Indeed, this could be the key factor nudging central banks from …

China's nascent central bank digital currency, the digital yuan, has already been deployed for an extensive array of successful pilot schemes, ranging from e-commerce to salary payments and to festive traditional lotteries. This week has reportedly seen the currency debut in the insurance industry, in the city of Shenzhen, where it is being piloted by the local branch of the People’s Bank of China together with a local subsidiary of China’s leading insurer, Ping An. The project involves a new insurance policy tailored to medical workers in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, offering them various levels of compensation for diagnosis of or …

The heat is rising between United States lawmakers and Chinese officials even before the lighting of the Olympic flame at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. During a press briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian addressed U.S. senators’ warning letter to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee regarding the use of the digital yuan at the Olympic games next year. Calling for the U.S. politicians to “abide by the spirit stipulated in the Olympic Charter,” Lijian asked them to “stop making sports a political matter and stop making troubles out of the digital currency in China,” the South …

A study released by Canada’s central bank, Banque du Canada, has noted a number of favorable reasons that the country could benefit from its own Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC. The document laid out two scenarios that might result in the bank issuing a CBDC at some future date. One would be if citizens were no longer widely using cash within the country for reasons that were left unspecified. The other could be if a digital currency, public or private, were to become so widely adopted as to threaten the sovereignty of Canada’s existing central currency. Participants did not …

The central bank of South Korea has chosen a blockchain subsidiary of local internet giant Kakao as a technology provider for its digital currency pilots. Kakao’s Ground X won the Bank of Korea’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) tender, becoming the principal technology supplier for blockchain-based digital won simulations, local news agency Korea JoongAng Daily reported Tuesday. The central bank announced that Ground X will participate in the South Korean CBDC project in cooperation with United States-based blockchain company ConsenSys as well as other Kakao affiliates like KakaoBank and Kakao Pay. Focused on infrastructure and decentralized applications for the Ethereum …

Three United States senators have signed a letter urging Olympic officials to forbid American athletes from using the digital yuan during the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. In a Monday letter to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee board chair Susanne Lyons, Republican senators Marsha Blackburn, Roger Wicker and Cynthia Lummis requested officials prevent U.S. athletes from using or accepting digital yuan, given their allegation that it can be "tracked and traced" by the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC. The three claimed that the Chinese Communist Party could use the digital currency to surveil visiting athletes and upon their return to …