This text is based on a work in progress. 

Globally seen, cryptocurrencies and blockchains  have been recognized by scholars and analysts as groundbreaking and game-changing innovations compared to the Internet. Even in the September 2022 edition under the name “Money Revolution. Crypto, CBDCs, and the future of finance”, the IMF is publishing information that in several places has positive views and opinions about cryptocurrencies. One opposing view included in the publication is from Agustin Carstens, the general manager of BiS, where he, together with Hyun Song Shin from FATF, write that “crypto is neither stable nor efficient” since it is a largely unregulated sector, and it participants are not accountable to society while also mentioning frequent fraud, theft, and scams have raised serious concerns about market integrity. Instead, they are writing that by adopting new technical capabilities but building on a core of trust, central bank money can provide the foundation for a rich and diverse monetary ecosystem that is scalable and designed with the public interest in mind.

BiS and central banks will use their public resources to promote the usage of CBDCs as a “good thing” while cryptocurrencies will be presented as bad, manipulative, and dangerous. One of the BiS positions is that central banks should be able to weaken and control cryptocurrencies, restrict them, and that the state must determine how much punishment is required to enforce such policies by justifying that cryptocurrencies are a threat to consumer protection. According to a BiS report about digital currencies from 2015, there are five restrictive areas a state could target to prohibit or discourage cryptocurrency -  retail transactions, acceptance by retailers, use as financial instruments, currency exchanges, or transactions between banks. The report states things such that authorities could seek to ban the use of digital currencies in their respective jurisdictions, an action that could imply a ban on any digital currency-based financial activities, as well as digital currency exchanges or digital currency acceptance by retailers. 

Furthermore, regarding CBDCs, the FATF wants to create a future dominated by CBDCs and central banking systems, even by using the blockchain as one of the main parts of such a globalized system and by viewing stablecoins as the same as CBDCs. Still, the FATF is not promoting a general ban on crypto but rather using the “naming and shaming” method of calling certain crypto high-risk and others low-risk currencies. Including that any organization or company offering a more ambitious privacy system should be labeled as high risk. Another example is not recognizing NFTs (also known as non-fungible tokens) as virtual assets while insisting that crypto is virtual/digital assets, not money. One can say that FATF just as BiS and partly as UNCTAD wants to centralize the decentralized system of cryptocurrencies by imposing more or less arbitrary, inefficient and unnecessary regulations and decisions. An important thing to keep in mind is that FATF has a history of making recommendations that have not resulted in reducing money laundering worldwide from 2000-2020. FATF is in close cooperation with institutions such as the US Federal Treasury as when it comes to centralized and arbitrary recommendations for virtual assets holders and platforms. 

Finally, the case about CBDCs is also that one of the main challenges and questions for several institutions is how, if, and will humans use CBDCs “voluntarily” or in general in their daily lives. For example, BiS's position is that cryptocurrencies are unstable while central banks are stable and also that the Bitcoin mining process will lead to its collapse. The recent action from December 2022 is that BiS position is that banks from January 2025 are going to be allowed to have reserve exposure in crypto as well but with a limitation to 2% of all assets. The IMF officials have on several occasions as in 2017, participated in meetings with entrepreneurs and others working with blockchain. Including making a podcast episode with Peter Smith, CEO of Blockchain (company), who among other things, said that central banks are flexible institutions that will use DLT to their advantage.

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