NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, January 21, 2016

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a staff paper that examines the risks and use cases of virtual currencies such as bitcoin, recommending a balanced regulatory framework that will not stifle innovation.

The report was presented by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde at the World Economic Forum in Davos during the panel “Transformation of Finance”.

Following an an overview of virtual currencies, the report goes on to look at the potential implications of the use digital currencies (a definition that includes mobile coupons and airline miles) as well as distributed ledgers and blockchains.

Notably, the paper concludes that distributed ledgers have the potential to change finance by reducing costs and allowing for deeper financial inclusion in the long run.