Dr. Warren Coats has a proposal designed to encourage adoption of the SDR used at the IMF as a true global reserve currency. In February Dr. Coats and current IMF official Dr. Thomas Krueger were the featured speakers at a presentation on SDRs sponsored by the Chicago Economics Society in Washington, DC. You can watch the presentation on the video embedded just below. Following that is a brief summary of the contents of the presentation.

This presentation along with the Q&A session that followed with the audience has a wealth of important information about the prospects for the SDR [special drawing rights; sometimes called XDR- Ed.] someday becoming a true global reserve currency that could even replace the US dollar. This is a must-see video for readers here and anyone you know who may have interest. Also, please note the quote Dr. Coats provided us to use for this article below.

Here is a brief summary of just some of the important information covered in this video:

– introduction to IMF official Dr. Thomas Krueger who works with SDRs currently

– introduction to former IMF Head of SDRs – Dr. Warren Coats

– some history and background on SDRs

– an explanation of the distinction between official SDRs used at IMF and “private SDRs”

– Dr. Krueger talks about some realistic ways SDRs could be more widely used while also noting some of the factors inhibiting broader use of them (mainly the dominance of the US dollar)

– Dr. Coats reviews his “Real SDR” Currency Board proposal to explain how the use of private SDRs could expand the role of SDRs as a global reserve currency

– both speakers discuss the process in detail of various ways the SDR could gain broader adoption both within the existing IMF rules and with some changes to those rules

-the potential timing for adoption of the SDR as a global reserve currency is discussed (the time frame may surprise you)

– Dr. Coats notes that some changes to increase adoption of the SDR just require the “political will” to make some changes. He hopes that China might be willing to look at broader SDR adoption by issuing SDR bonds in the AIIB. Looks like China was paying attention in this Wall Street Journal article.