The IMF’s Spring Meetings this year saw the announcement of the organization’s own, “international central bank digital currency” called the Universal Monetary Unit (UMU, aka Unicoin).

The IMF said in a statement that UMU functions like a CBDC and is a legal and global money commodity. The purpose of this particular iteration of a CBDCs is to make sure banking regulations are enforced, as well as to protect “the financial integrity of the international banking system.”

This currency will be used by banks via SWIFT codes and bank accounts linked to a UMU digital wallet.

The scheme is supposed to allow for digital cross-border payments modeled after SWIFT, and promises best wholesale exchange rates of settlement currencies and real-time settlement, “while bypassing the correspondent banking system.”

At the same time, IMF officials are describing the current cross-border payment system as slow, expensive, and risky, while declaring that UMU’s goal is not disruption of the international monetary system – such as it is – but rather, to further “strengthen” it.

Not only that, but the IMF looks set on rebranding the term “crypto” – normally associated with decentralized digital currencies that leave central banks and governments out of the equation. “Crypto 2.0” is how the IMF would market UMU, and likely, CBCDs in general.

Meanwhile, critics of CBDCs are using strong words to express their opposition to the trend, with some calling it a path toward financial slavery that is always a handy companion to political tyranny.

More criticism has to do with CBDCs being seen as a way of introducing social credit scores and digital IDs, thus having individuals fully ceding to the government control over their own assets and/or the amount they spend.

Unlike cash and decentralized crypto, CBCDs are feared to spell the end of private financial affairs, and usher in even more surveillance by the authorities.

Article cross-posted from Reclaim The Net.