The International Monetary Fund (IMF) officially "accepts" Bitcoin

[Introduction]  

On March 20, 2025, a document from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shocked the world: Bitcoin was officially written into the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM7), becoming an "in-house member" of the global economic statistics system. This seemingly obscure technical revision is actually a historic milestone for cryptocurrency to move from "wild growth" to "mainstream". When Bitcoin wears the "official ID card" issued by the IMF, the underlying rules of global capital flows are being quietly rewritten by on-chain technology...

1. Identity Revolution: Bitcoin's "National Ledger Ticket"

IMF has clearly labeled cryptocurrencies for the first time, dividing them into two camps:

1. Digital Hard Assets: Bitcoin's "Goldification"  

Cryptocurrencies without sovereign endorsement (such as BTC) are classified as "non-productive non-financial assets" and listed on the same national balance sheet as gold and artworks. This means that if central banks hold Bitcoin, they need to disclose market value fluctuations regularly, just like managing gold reserves.

2. Stablecoins’ “financial instrument” identity  

Debt-backed stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are classified as “financial accounts” and enjoy the same treatment as stocks and bonds. In the future, companies issuing stablecoins may face audit requirements similar to those of traditional financial institutions.

3. “Equity-like” attributes of public chain tokens  

If platform tokens such as ETH and SOL are held by overseas investors, their pledge income may be defined as “primary income” (similar to overseas dividends of multinational companies), and even affect a country’s international investment income data.

▶ IMF logical core: Using “whether to bear liabilities” as a yardstick, cryptocurrencies have bid farewell to statistical blind spots and have been officially included in the global economic monitoring system.

2. How is the on-chain economy "included in GDP"?

BPM7 has designed a new statistical formula for cryptocurrency transactions. In the future, these scenarios will directly affect national economic data:

• Mining as a service export  

Chinese miners provide computing power to American companies, which will be recorded as "computer service exports", directly increasing China's service trade surplus.

• Staking income = overseas dividends  

The income earned by Japanese investors through staking ETH will be included in the country's "primary income account" and will be counted alongside Toyota's factory profits in the United States.

• Bitcoin trading = capital transfer  

BTC transactions between Chinese and American users must be included in the "Other Investments-Non-Financial Assets" account, and cross-border capital flow supervision will cover on-chain transactions from now on.

• National reserve transparency  

Bitcoins held by central banks of various countries must be included in the International Investment Position (IIP) at market prices, and cryptocurrencies have officially been upgraded to "sovereign asset allocation options."

3. Global changes: Who is reaping the benefits of the chain?

1. Compressed regulatory arbitrage space  

IMF requires countries to establish a crypto asset reporting system by 2029, and exchanges and wallets must report transaction data to the statistical department. Anonymous coins and DeFi protocols may encounter "data siege".

2. Real-time monitoring of capital flows  

Through on-chain address tracking, the Federal Reserve can monitor capital flight through cryptocurrency channels. Emerging market countries have a "new weapon" to control exchange rate fluctuations.

3. A new battlefield for sovereignty game  

• The U.S. state of North Carolina has passed legislation allowing 10% of fiscal funds to be allocated to Bitcoin;

• In South Korea, more than half of investors over the age of 50 hold Bitcoin, and the logic of intergenerational wealth distribution has been subverted;

• El Salvador’s Bitcoin treasury bond plan has been tacitly approved by the IMF, and small countries are using encrypted assets to challenge the hegemony of the U.S. dollar.

Fourth, the reef under the carnival: data black hole and regulatory paradox

• Volatility trap  

Bitcoin's daily fluctuation of more than 10% has become the norm. The IMF requires statistics based on the market price at the moment of transaction, but violent fluctuations may distort the authenticity of the balance of payments.

• DeFi data fog  

Although BPM7 requires the integration of exchange data, on-chain lending and privacy coin transactions are still difficult to penetrate, and the statistical error may exceed one trillion US dollars.

• Compliance dilemma  

The EU strictly investigates the anti-money laundering of exchanges, but the IMF requires them to open user data - how will the balance between commercial secrets and regulatory costs tilt?

V. The next decade: the "domestication" and rebellion of cryptocurrency

• CBDC VS Bitcoin: a showdown inside and outside the system  

The IMF classifies central bank digital currency (CBDC) as legal tender, forming a confrontation pattern of "regular army VS guerrillas" with Bitcoin.

• National reserve secret war escalates  

The Trump administration has officially included Bitcoin in the US strategic reserve, and cryptocurrency has transformed from a "decentralized ideal" to a geo-financial weapon.

• Statistical Revolution 2.0  

The IMF plans to promote the direct connection of on-chain data to the national statistical system by 2030, when every DeFi loan may enter the balance of payments account.

[Conclusion]  

When Bitcoin was engraved into the IMF's statistical manual, this financial experiment that began with cypherpunks finally broke through the iron door of the traditional economic system. However, the struggle between regulatory assimilation and technological rebellion continues - in the next decade, cryptocurrencies may walk on the tightrope between "compliance" and "decentralization". The only certainty is that the password for global capital flows has been forever rewritten by blockchain.