ANALYSIS: How Crypto Winter Could Alter Basel Banking Standards

In December, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued prudential standards for how internationally active banks should handle crypto assets. But in its report, the committee noted that, “given the rapid pace of market developments” in the cryptocurrency space, it “will likely issue additional refinements and clarifications over time.” As crypto winter sets in, we can expect those changes to center around how the standards currently classify crypto assets by risk.

The standards define two groups of crypto assets. Group 1 includes tokenized traditional assets and stablecoins. For the most part, Group 1 crypto assets are treated like ...