IMF working paper acknowledges Bitcoin as emerging commodity settlement layer

The International Monetary Fund published a working paper titled “Digital Assets and Commodity Settlement: Implications for the International Monetary System” that acknowledges Bitcoin is being used for “non-trivial volumes of physical commodity trade” and evaluates policy responses. The paper does not recommend a ban. Instead it proposes a regulatory framework for BTC-denominated commodity clearing, including KYC requirements for sovereign wallets and settlement timestamps for trade reporting. The IMF spent a decade warning that crypto threatened financial stability. Now it is drafting the rules for how to live with it. The shift from opposition to regulation is a form of surrender.