According to a Basel Committee survey, 19 of the largest banks in the world they have almost $9 billion in digital assets, and banks that hold crypto assets may only account for 0.01% of the total Bank for International Settlements (BIS) exposure.

The survey involved 19 banks, of which 10 are from the Americas, seven are from Europe and the remaining two are from the rest of the world.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision survey found that Bitcoin and Ethereal it represented 0.14% of the total exposure. The study also pointed to the need for capital markets to add new rules for lenders to hold digital assets.

Of the banks surveyed, two own more than half of the assets and four banks get the remaining 40% of the assets. The unequal distribution of shareholding among banks creates a market gap.

Crypto asset exposure is dominated by 31% bitcoin, 22% ether, and a mix of bitcoin and ether at 25% and 10%, respectively.

The cryptocurrency market has liquidated billions of dollars this year. Exposure to cryptocurrencies has increased significantly.

The Secretary of the Committee, Renzo Corrias, highlighted the importance of the study and said:

“Template [sent to banks] was specifically designed to support the Committee’s two advisory papers on the prudential treatment of banks’ crypto asset exposures, which were published on June 10, 2021 and June 30, 2022.”

Corrias said that the committee’s plan establishes capital requirements for unsecured assets such as BTC, ETH and other cryptocurrencies. The new regulations mentioned in the report could limit lending and close banks’ access to the crypto market. Rather, looser rules would apply to hedging exposures and other stablecoins.

However, the results of this study may be limited due to the small sample size.

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