Lagarde Urges Central Banks to Study Issuing Digital Currencies

(Bloomberg) -- International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said central banks should look into issuing digital currencies.

“Various central banks around the world are seriously considering these ideas,” Lagarde said in Singapore on Wednesday. “While the case for digital currency is not universal, we should investigate it further, seriously, carefully, and creatively.”

Monetary policy makers from Uruguay to Canada are already researching the idea, with Sweden’s Riksbank saying just last month it will seek to start a pilot project next year to develop an electronic currency.

Economies around the world are becoming increasingly cashless as credit and debit cards or even mobile phone apps are used as modes of payment. A report last month by Bloomberg Intelligence suggested central banks could eventually destroy the of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by issuing their own tokens.

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.