Barry Silbert, the head of the Digital Currency Group and Grayscale Investments, has drawn attention to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seemingly promoting cryptocurrency.
The IMF have released a video on social media, which at first glance appears to promote the use of crypto by discussing it's virtues including the ability to cut out the middle man in a financial transaction.
Towards the end of the presentation however, the narrator lowers her voice by an octave and informs the audience "...there are some risks."
Being anonymous in nature and untraceable by design is, in the IMF's opinion, undesirable. One reason they give is the often repeated mantra by authorities that cryptocurrency makes it "...easier for the bad guys to make payments without being noticed."
Returning to her previous happy demeanour, the presenter informs the audience if they can overcome the risks "...then this new technology, or some variation of it, can completely change the way we sell, buy, save, invest, and pay our bills."
Ending on a coy note, the audience is left with the phrase, "Who knows, this could be the next step in the evolution of money."
Big Footprint
The IMF is an international organisation consisting of 189 countries and is based in Washington D.C.
Formed at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 - where the US Dollar was positioned as the world's reserve currency - the IMF is said to be the brainchild of US Treasury Official Harry Dexter White and economist John Maynard Keynes.
Officially, the organisation works towards fostering global monetary cooperation to secure financial stability by facilitating international trade.
However, it's role in the management of balance of payments during times of financial crises - such as recently experienced by Greece - has lead to some critics deriding both the organisation's methods and intent.
The cryptocurrency promotional video was aired on the IMF's Twitter feed that has 1.7 million followers.
