The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested in its latest edition of the World Economic Outlook, that crypto assets such as Bitcoin will affect the global financial system negatively.
Chances of such occurrence will be on a high side if the explosion of interest in these currencies continues to happen.
According to ExpressUK, the IMF stated in the report,
“Cybersecurity breaches and cyber attacks on critical financial infrastructure represent an additional source of risk because they could undermine cross-border payment systems and disrupt the flow of goods and services. Continued rapid growth of crypto assets could create new vulnerabilities in the international financial system.”
Interestingly, the current financial system which is primarily made up of banking institutions have faced similar problems in the past, especially since it started integrating internet-based services.
Cryptos To Become “Critical” Payment Systems
If Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies become widely adopted as the trends have shown so far, the IMF feels that the invention will become one of the “critical” financial infrastructures.
To this end, it is likely that the IMF is showing concerns because they feel that Blockchain networks and crypto exchanges are hosted on the web and is vulnerable to cyber attacks from time to time.
However, these fears have not been matched by corresponding results from the emerging crypto industry.
The decentralization of Blockchain networks means that there is little chance of anyone hijacking it or even stealing tokens belonging to other users.
On the other hand, existing financial systems are susceptible to fraud and embezzlement of public funds as has been shown by various cases involving billions of dollars in the past.
IMF Calls Regulators To Monitor Evolving Payment Systems
The IMF admitted in a financial stability report last week that “despite its (cryptocurrencies) potential benefits, their knowledge of its potential risks and how they might play out is still developing.”
“Regulators and supervisors must remain vigilant to this evolution and ready to act if needed,” according to the body.
Add Comment