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IMF staff, in their concluding statement of their 2023 Article IV consultation mission, expressed concerns about the Fintech initiatives of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). These included the enactment of the DAO Act and the move to start registration of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and the potential launch of a stablecoin. Concerns included capacity constraints and questions regarding the understanding of the authorities to adequately regulate and supervise these initiatives. IMF staff also encouraged the authorities to expeditiously enact the SOV Repeal Bill. (In 2018 the RMI legislature passed the SOV Act making the RMI government-backed SOV crypto-asset a second legal tender, in addition to the US dollar, about which IMF staff had expressed reservations.)

The IMF published an overview of the development of digital money and payment systems in twelve Pacific island countries (PICs), assessing potential benefits and risks, with a focus on how they can harness digital technology to enhance financial inclusion and payment efficiency while minimizing risks. The paper also examines the prerequisites for successfully adopting various forms of digital money and proposes a strategic framework for policy decisions (see Figure 10). It advocates a gradual, well-informed approach, tailored to PICs' unique monetary and financial circumstances, including the presence of national currencies and the maturity of payment systems. Moreover, the paper suggests that a regional approach could help address capacity and scalability challenges in introducing new digital money forms and payment methods in PICs.