IMF urgently calls for regulation, but $2.6 billion has already flowed out—stablecoins are the true capillaries of cross-border finance.

Nepal has banned cryptocurrency trading and mining since 2021, but cryptocurrency adoption from 2019 to 2024 has seen significant growth. The IMF estimates that inflows in 2020 were minimal, rising sharply to over $2.6 billion in 2021, accounting for more than 13% of GDP, with the share of stablecoins expanding. By early 2025, cross-border crypto flows are estimated to account for about 5% of GDP. The IMF urges the establishment of a regulatory framework that complies with international standards to prevent capital control evasion and large-scale deposit outflows.