TechFlow news, March 23 — According to CrowFund Insider on March 20, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the seventh edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM7), incorporating digital assets such as cryptocurrencies into the global economic reporting framework for the first time. This marks the first update to the manual since 2009.
Under the new framework, digital assets are divided into fungible tokens and non-fungible tokens, and further classified based on whether they carry associated liabilities:
• Unbacked assets like Bitcoin are categorized as non-produced, non-financial assets under the capital account;
• Liability-backed digital currencies such as stablecoins are treated as financial instruments;
• Platform tokens like ETH and SOL, when held cross-border, may be classified as equity-like instruments;
• Staking and cryptocurrency yield-generating activities are considered sources of dividend income;
• Mining and staking-related services are recognized as exportable computer services;
The IMF aims to promote widespread adoption of BPM7 and the latest System of National Accounts by 2029–2030.
