International regulators believe that the most stringent requirements for the sufficiency of banking capital from those that apply to any assets should be applied to cryptocurrencies. Under Bitcoin and such tokens, banks should reserve much more capital than for traditional tools, such as promotions and bonds, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision proposed.

Regulators in different countries are developing plans to introduce the rules for a rapidly growing crypto. Banks owning cryptocurrencies or working with them bear much higher risks, the Basel Committee said in the report . It was published on Thursday, and it contains proposals for discussion with market participants and other interested parties.

So far, cryptocurrencies have a small number of banking operations, but “the growth of crypto acts and related services can potentially increase fears regarding financial stability and increase the risks that banks face,” the authors of the report say. Among such risks, they call market and credit, risks of fraud, hacker attacks, money laundering and financing terrorism.

Not all crypto acts should fall under more rigid regulation, according to the Basel Committee. Some, for example, tokens on traditional assets, such as shares, bonds, raw materials, etc., can be included in the modified current rules that determine the minimum requirements for the capital of banks. True, for this they must have the same rights, for example, to dividends and other cash payments as non -constituent assets, but now not everyone has such rights. Steblcoins will also fall under existing norms - cryptocurrencies, tied, for example, to ordinary currencies - if they are fully provided throughout the entire time. Banks will have to ensure that the full -fledged funding is "carried out all the time."

To other assets, such as Bitcoin and Eterium, the Committee recommends applying a new “conservative” regime of prudent regulation. It offers to use a weight risk coefficient of 1250%to them. This is the most stringent requirement that applies to the most risky assets on the balance sheet of banks. It means that banks will have to reserve capital, completely covering the value of such assets. If the Bitcoin Bank has $ 100, the minimum requirement for capital will be $ 100, the Basel Committee noted.

Such standards will be applied to crypto actes created in the decentralized finance system ( Defi ), and non -replaced tokens ( NFT ). However, the digital currencies that can be created by central banks are not included in the sphere of current discussion, the report is noted.

Prudentic rules establish requirements for liquidity of assets and sufficiency of capital, so that in case of problems the bank can be eliminated by an organized manner, without causing damage to customers and without creating a panic in the markets.

Bitcoin on Thursday evening traded at about $ 36,600, Eterium - $ 2470.

The Basel Committee issued its proposals for discussion at the moment when the regulators decide how to be with the emergence of more and more digital assets and an increase in interest in them from investors. The US authorities also want to play a more active role in ensuring the supervision of the cryptocurrency market, the total capitalization of which is about $ 1.5 trillion. They are worried that investors can suffer due to the lack of market regulation, known for their high volatility and speculativeness.

Some bankers believe that members of the Basel Committee went too far in their recommendations. “If we are going to apply penalty risk, it means that we say that we do not want to see these assets in the banking system,” said the manager of the bank associated with the scope of cryptocurrencies. - We all saw what is happening if we squeeze out the activity from a very well -adjustable system to the Wild West. What do regulators want - so that adults or adolescents do business? "

Recently, several large banks, including the State Street and Citigroup , made it clear that they intend to provide customers with crypto actuas services. Last week, the British Standard Chartered announced the creation of a joint venture with the Hong Kong company BC Group , working with digital assets. They intend to create a brokerage and exchange platform for European customers for operations with digital assets.

Public consultations on the report of the Basel Committee will end in September.

Translated by Mikhail Overchenko

The Basel Committee proposed for cryptocurrencies the most stringent capital requirements