The IMF rules out issuing CBDC directly to the end user in its preferred model.
The document warns that private stablecoins are vulnerable to runs due to loss of trust
The International Monetary Fund published a technical note on April 1 in which it discards the two extremes of the debate on digital money and opts for an intermediate model.
The document, signed by Tobias Adrian, director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, holds that neither private stablecoins nor a CBDC issued directly to the end user They alone solve the security and scale requirements demanded by the tokenized financial system.
The posture of the organism is articulated around the model of synthetic central bank digital currency, known as sCBDC. In this scheme, regulated private issuers offer digital tokens that are 100% backed by central bank reserves.
The central bank does not issue digital currency directly to the public: it provides the support that guarantees par convertibility and preserves the uniqueness of money. Innovation, user interface and regulatory compliance remain in private hands; the definitive settlement asset remains on the public balance sheet.
Why the IMF rejects extremes
The document identifies the specific limitations of each pure model. Private stablecoins, even those backed by high-quality assets such as short-term government debt, They depend on the operational capacity of their issuers to meet reimbursements and liquidity of the underlying markets.
With that description, the IMF functionally equates them to money market funds: instruments that maintain parity under normal conditions but that can face runs due to loss of confidence in stress scenarios. The note points out that this risk does not disappear with better reserves; requires structural public support.
At the opposite extreme, a wholesale CBDC issued directly by the central bank removes the credit risk of the settlement asset, but forces the issuing institution to operate a new infrastructure with implications for its balance sheet, its governance and its operational exposure. The IMF does not rule out this model, but reserves it for interbank settlement and financial market infrastructure, not for general circulation.
The sCBDC model, according to the document, combines what each end cannot offer alone: the innovation and reach of the private sector with the trust and stability of central bank money. However, the IMF warns that its implementation requires calibrated access to central bank balance sheets, robust supervision of issuers, and sustainable private business models that do not compromise public trust. None of these conditions are completely resolved today in any jurisdiction..
The note does not establish a schedule or identify countries that are close to implementing this model at scale. What it does establish is the conceptual framework from which the organization will evaluate the proposals that arrive in the coming years.