Coin In Bitcoin Name Doesn't Make It Money: IMF Chief

IMF chief said crypto products may be offering faster services at a much lower cost and better inclusivity, but for that also there was a need to separate apples from bananas and regulation would be key there.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on Monday cautioned against confusing crypto products with currencies and said anything not backed by a sovereign guarantee can be an asset class but not a currency, as she asserted that Bitcoin cannot be 'money' just because it has got 'coin' in its name.

Speaking at a session on central bank digital currencies in Davos at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, she said crypto products may be offering faster services at a much lower cost and better inclusivity, but for that also there was a need to separate apples from bananas and regulation would be key there.

At the same session, Central Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said the banknotes also proved to be a great technological advancement when they were introduced.

"I always speak of crypto as assets and not as currencies. For any currency, someone has to take the responsibility, but there is no one in case of so-called cryptocurrencies. Also, currencies need to have a lot of trust and they need to be universally acceptable," he said.