Is SDR a real currency?

SDRs are not a currency. They are an international reserve asset and unit of account created by the IMF in 1969. An SDR cannot be held in a commercial bank account, spent in a transaction, or transferred between private parties. To access SDR value, an IMF member country exchanges its SDR allocation for one of the 5 basket currencies — US dollar, euro, renminbi, yen, or pound sterling — through the IMF system.

Read more about this topic in our article

What Are Special Drawing Rights?