Could the IMF have built Bitcoin?
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
From Mr Lex Rieffel.
Sir, Isn’t it curious that the International Monetary Fund has never been mentioned in any recent FT reports on Bitcoin? The latest example is John Gapper’s column “Bitcoin needs to grow out of its obsessive adolescence” (March 13).
Mr Gapper quotes a venture capitalist to the effect that the Bitcoin inventors “were in the right place but were the wrong people”. Who more than the IMF could be the right people?
The sad reality, however, is that the US Congress surely would refuse to allow the IMF to issue a virtual currency. Here is one more reason why the time has come to build an international monetary institution that is not beholden to the US Congress. The Bank for International Settlements may have the potential for assuming this role.
Lex Rieffel, Non-resident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, US
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