Global financial regulators, under the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, are revisiting strict banking rules for cryptocurrency holdings that were introduced in 2022 and set for implementation in 2025. The original standards required banks to hold large amounts of capital against crypto assets, treating volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as high-risk investments, which many institutions interpreted as a deterrent to crypto engagement.
The rapid growth of stablecoins, which are designed to maintain a stable value through asset backing like the U.S. dollar, has sparked a regulatory rethink. Stablecoins are becoming more integral to payments and the digital economy, leading regulators to consider more flexible rules specifically for these less volatile assets. The United States has led efforts to soften the Basel rules, arguing that high capital charges made it impractical for banks to offer crypto services, especially for stablecoins recently regulated under the GENIUS Act.
Revised standards are expected to take shape before the end of 2024, with full implementation by early 2025, aiming to better distinguish between high-risk cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. This shift could open doors for more traditional financial institutions to safely enter the crypto space, balancing financial stability with innovation. Chris Perkins, president of CoinFund, previously described the rules as a "chokepoint" designed to throttle industry growth.
The European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework already allows stablecoins to attract capital treatment similar to their backing assets, underscoring a global trend toward differentiated regulation.
HYPE
ARX
BALZ
BNB
ELIZAOS
XRP