LONDON — Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has a message for the world’s central bankers: Don’t be Luddites.

Addressing a Bank of England conference, Lagarde conceded that digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, don’t currently pose a major threat to the status quo, as they are “too volatile, too risky, too energy-intensive.” Some have also been hacked, she noted.

But in time, she argued Friday, technological innovations could address some of these issues and as such it “may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies.”

In the future, she said, virtual currencies “might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money.”







