IMF Questions Stablecoin Classification Amid $35T Transaction Volume

Stablecoins processed $35 trillion in on-chain transactions over the past year, per Visa data, with an average circulating supply of $194.6 billion. Despite their dominance in crypto infrastructure, IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li challenged their classification as money during the World Economic Forum's Summer Davos, asking whether they qualify as M0, M1, or another monetary category.

Global regulatory approaches remain fragmented, with the U.S. advancing the GENI Act and Hong Kong implementing its Stablecoin Ordinance by August 2025. Li emphasized unresolved enforcement challenges, noting that current policies are largely experimental. "A large number of digital currency or stablecoin regulatory experiments are being carried out worldwide," he stated, highlighting the lack of international coordination.