From "wild growth" to "mainstreaming": The International Monetary Fund (IMF) officially "incorporated" 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 Positions Manual" (BPM7), becoming a "member" of the global economic statistics system. This seemingly obscure technical revision is actually a historic milestone for cryptocurrencies to move from "wild growth" to "mainstreaming". When Bitcoin wears the "official ID card" issued by the IMF, the underlying rules for global capital flows are being quietly rewritten by on-chain technology...

1. Identity Revolution: Bitcoin’s “National Ledger Entry Ticket”

For the first time, the IMF has labeled cryptocurrencies explicitly and cut them into two major camps:

1. Digital Hard Assets: Bitcoin’s “Golding”

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

2. The "financial instrument" identity of stablecoins

Stable coins supported by debt such as USDT and USDC are included in the "financial account" and enjoy the same treatment as stocks and bonds. In the future, enterprises may face audit requirements similar to traditional financial institutions when issuing stablecoins.

3. The "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 "first income" (similar to overseas dividends of multinational companies), and may even affect a country's international investment income data.

▶ IMF logic core : Using "whether to bear debt" as the yardstick, cryptocurrencies have bid farewell to the statistical blind spots and are officially included in the global economic monitoring system.

2. How does the on-chain economy "include GDP"?

BPM7 has designed a new set of statistical formulas 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 will be recorded as "computer service exports", directly increasing China's service trade surplus.

• Pledge income = overseas dividends

The income earned by Japanese investors through pledging ETH is recorded in their own country's "first income account" and is ranked alongside Toyota's factory profits in the United States.

• Bitcoin trading = capital transfer

BTC transactions by 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 then on.

• Transparency of national reserves

Bitcoins held by central banks in various countries need to be included in the International Investment Position List (IIP) at market prices, and cryptocurrencies are officially upgraded to "sovereign asset allocation option".

3. Global changes: Who is the dividend on the harvest chain?

1. Restricted regulatory arbitrage space

The IMF requires all countries to establish a crypto asset declaration system before 2029, and exchanges and wallet vendors need to submit transaction data to the statistical department. Anonymous coins and DeFi protocols may be subject to "data encirclement".

2. Real-time monitoring of capital flows

Through on-chain address tracking, the Fed can monitor capital flight in cryptocurrency channels. Emerging market countries have "new weapons" to control exchange rate fluctuations.

3. A new battlefield for sovereign game

• North Carolina, the United States, has legislation that allows 10% of fiscal funds to allocate Bitcoin;

• South Korean investors over 50 years old hold more than half of the coins, and the logic of intergenerational wealth distribution has been subverted;

• El Salvador 's Bitcoin Treasury Program has been acquiesced by the IMF, and small countries use crypto assets to challenge the hegemony of the US dollar.

4. Reefs under carnival: Data black holes and regulatory paradox

• Volatility Trap

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

• DeFi data is foggy

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

• Compliance dilemma

The EU strictly investigates anti-money laundering on exchanges, but the IMF requires it to open user data - how does the balance between trade secrets and regulatory costs tilt?

5. Next decade: "domestication" and rebellion of cryptocurrencies

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

The IMF classifies the central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a legal tender, forming a confrontation pattern with Bitcoin as a “regular army vs. guerrillas”.

• The national reserves undermining war escalates

The Trump administration has officially included Bitcoin in the US strategic reserves, and cryptocurrencies have transformed from "decentralized ideal" to geofinancial weapon.

• Statistical Revolution 2.0

The IMF plans to promote on-chain data to connect directly to the national statistical system by 2030, and 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 crypto-punk finally broke the iron door of the traditional economic system. However, regulatory inclusion and technological rebellion continue to wrestle - cryptocurrencies may roam on the steel wires of "compliance" and "decentralization" in the next decade. The only thing that is certain is that the password for global capital flows has been rewritten by blockchain forever.

Interactive question: Is Bitcoin on the ledger a pie or a trap?