The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has noted that Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, remains mostly “off the books” despite using as much electricity as Argentina.
The IMF has recalled that 2008 was the last time when countries actually standardized how to measure their economies, but this was before the advent of various disruptive technologies.
The System of National Accounts 2025 (2025 SNA), the new international statistical standard, has introduced clear guidance on topics such as digitalization.
The major update was greenlit earlier this year by the United Nations Statistical Commission in collaboration with various other organizations, including the IMF.
Crypto as part of GDP
Notably, digital assets are included in the latest update. Bitcoin was launched after the release of the previous iteration. Until now, it had been ignored despite its significant economic impact stemming from massive amounts of energy required by the proof-of-work consensus algorithm. Bitcoin was not counted as part of economic activity since the cryptocurrency was not producing goods and services.
From now on, crypto assets will be included in national wealth based on the newly released SNA standard.
Other disruptive technologies
Apart from crypto, the update will also take into account some other disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), e-commerce, cloud computing, and so on.
The updated standard is expected to be implemented by the end of the decade.
The IMF has urged policymakers to work toward implementing the new standard.