The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement to CryptoSlate that it is not involved with the purported CBDC named Unicoin.
IMF denies involvement in Unicoin
On April 10, the Digital Currency Monetary Authority (DCMA) announced a central bank digital currency called the Universal Monetary Unit (UMU) or Unicoin.
The IMF has denied all connections to that project, stating:
“The IMF has no involvement in the DCMA or Unicoin.”
The DCMA’s original press release acknowledges that the IMF “has not officially endorsed Universal Monetary Unit.” Rather, it says that the IMF has merely reviewed the project’s whitepaper and has not objected to certain project details.
Confusion around the IMF’s ties to Unicoin seems to be due to the fact that the DCMA announced the launch of Unicoin during the IMF’s Spring Meetings.
That connection led various sources to suggest that the IMF was directly involved in the asset’s creation. In an April 10 headline that has since been edited, news site Kitco stated that the IMF itself was responsible for “unveiling” Unicoin.
Similar wording was later used in headlines from other high-profile sites, including Investing.com, Altcoin Investor, and ZeroHedge.
Unicoin has few notable connections
Unicoin does not appear to be issued by any central bank despite the DCMA’s purported involvement with governments.
The DCMA, despite its name, is not a state authority but instead claims to work with authorities. As such, Unicoin — if it exists in a usable form — is more accurately described as a private stablecoin than a CBDC.
Furthermore, the firm appears to have been founded just years ago. It has few notable connections despite its self-proclaimed status as a “world leader.”