Editor's Note

In November 2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a fintech-themed report entitled Central Bank Exploration of Tokenized Reserves (hereinafter referred to as the Report). The Report systematically sorts out how central banks, against the backdrop of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), can maintain the core settlement function of central bank money in the digital asset ecosystem and the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission by issuing "tokenized reserves"—a new form of wholesale central bank money.

The Report points out that tokenized reserves are essentially a migration of the technical carrier of the existing reserve system. Their core value lies in enabling programmability and strict atomic settlement, thereby enhancing the efficiency and resilience of financial infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Report conducts an in-depth analysis of the governance trade-offs behind the three implementation models—interoperability, integration and unified ledger—and highlights emerging risks such as liquidity fragmentation, smart contract vulnerabilities and regulatory complexity.

Faced with technological transformation, central banks need to make prudent choices among multiple strategic postures including "inaction", "wait-and-see", "empowerment" and "catalysis", so as to align the innovation process with fundamental goals such as financial stability and monetary sovereignty. The core framework and policy implications of the Report are now excerpted and compiled for reference.