The Imf is warning that some of the consequences of a country adopting Bitcoin as a national currency "could exist dire."

Co-ordinate to IMF marketing section financial counsellor and director Tobias Adrian and legal department general counsel and director Rhoda Weeks-Brown, a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin (BTC) may catch on in countries without stable inflation and exchange rates and provide unbanked people with the means to make payments. However, the cost to an economic system could be significant.

The 2 Imf officials alleged that countries adopting cryptocurrencies as national currencies or "granting cryptoassets legal tender status" risked domestic prices becoming highly unstable, also emphasizing assets being used reverse to Anti-Money Laundering and combating the financing of terrorism measures in add-on to having problems surrounding macroeconomic stability and the environment.

Related: Bitcoin at Risk as IMF Warns of Worst Downturn in 90 years

"If goods and services were priced in both a real currency and a cryptoasset, households and businesses would spend significant time and resources choosing which coin to hold every bit opposed to engaging in productive activities," said Adrian and Weeks-Brownish. "Government revenues would be exposed to commutation rate take chances if taxes were quoted in accelerate in a cryptoasset while expenditures remained mostly in the local currency, or vice versa."

They also claimed that monetary policy, in general, "would lose bite," implying widespread crypto adoption lessens the brownie of any country adopting an asset like BTC or another token, and pointing to the "massive fluctuations in cryptoasset prices." The price of Bitcoin has already moved between roughly $65,000 and $30,000 this year and reached more $40,000 on Monday before dipping to the $37,000s.

Though the International monetary fund blog did non specifically call out Republic of el salvador, which is set to showtime accepting Bitcoin as legal tender starting in September, Adrian and Weeks-Brown said that making any cryptocurrency a national currency "is an inadvisable shortcut" to more inclusive financial services. The pair included claims of environmental risks for mining cryptocurrencies, though Republic of el salvador president Nayib Bukele has said he plans to take advantage of the state's abundant geothermal energy to generate Bitcoin blocks.

Related: Republic of el salvador'southward Bitcoin adoption may jeopardize International monetary fund negotiations: JPMorgan

Expressing seemingly negative views on countries adopting crypto is nada new for the Imf. Spokespeople have previously said smaller nations like the Marshall Islands recognizing a digital currency equally legal tender "raise risks to macroeconomic and fiscal stability likewise as financial integrity." In that case, the IMF said the islands' local economic system had been strained by the economic fallout of the pandemic and likely wouldn't be fixed with the introduction of a digital currency.