Bloomberg has reported that the Basel Committee is considering changes to crypto rules for banks, with stablecoins as a key focus. On multiple occasions this year, industry associations representing financial institutions have requested the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) to amend the rules. The rules were already updated in 2024 and the start date was previously postponed by a year to January 2026.
One of the key issues is the treatment of permissionless blockchains, which results in stablecoins or other tokenized traditional assets being treated the same as high risk investments such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In turn, this makes it expensive for banks to engage with permissionless chains. By contrast, tokenized assets on permissioned blockchains receive the same risk treatment as conventional assets.
The United States is pushing for the changes. This is unsurprising given comments included in July’s White House Digital Assets report: “The BCBS does not possess any formal supranational authority, and its decisions do not have legal force… It is important for the United States to lead in such international forums.”
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