The International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes that Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is mostly “out of the book” despite using as much electricity as Argentina.
The IMF recalls that 2008 was the last time that actually standardized the way countries actually measure their economy, before the advent of various disruptive technologies.
The new international statistical standard, the National Account 2025 (2025 SNA), has introduced clear guidance on topics such as digitization.
The major update was greenlighted by the United Nations Statistics Commission earlier this year, in collaboration with various other organisations, including the IMF.
Cryptography as a part of GDP
In particular, digital assets are included in the latest updates. Bitcoin was released after the release of previous iterations. Until now, it has been ignored despite the significant economic impacts caused by the large amount of energy required for the proving work consensus algorithm. Bitcoin was not counted as part of economic activity, as cryptocurrencies did not produce goods or services.
From now on, Crypto Assets will be included in the wealth of the nation based on newly released SNA standards.
Other disruptive technologies
Apart from Crypto, the update also takes into account other disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), e-commerce, and cloud computing.
The updated standard is expected to be implemented by the end of the decade.
The IMF is urging policymakers to work towards implementing new standards.
