Banks in the EU should apply bitcoin holding limits before international rules come into effect: ECB | coindesk JAPAN

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on February 15 that banks within the European Union (EU) will have to limit their holdings of Bitcoin (BTC) before the global rules proposed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) come into force. should be applied.

Bitcoin and other crypto assets (virtual currencies) have not yet made significant inroads into European banks, but the ECB should treat crypto assets as risk assets and limit their holdings immediately, he said.

“The BCBS draft rules are not yet legally binding. However, if banks wish to enter this market, they are expected to comply with this standard and reflect it in their business and capital plans.” The ECB, which is responsible for direct supervision of the EU’s largest banks, said in a newsletter.

BCBS recently proposed assigning the highest risk weight of 1250% to unbacked crypto assets such as Bitcoin. This means banks must issue capital equal to their holdings of crypto assets. In addition, the amount of crypto assets held is limited to no more than 1% of the core capital, called Tier 1.

The draft BCBS regulation does not yet have legal force, but some members of the European Parliament are already trying to introduce legislation that would accommodate key parts of the regulation.

A study released by the ECB on February 15 found that distributed ledger technology is “barely used by EU banks,” with less than one in five looking to leverage the solution. Activities and exposures are described as “not material.”

｜Translation: coindesk JAPAN
｜Editing: Toshihiko Inoue
｜Image: Shutterstock
｜Original: EU Banks Told by Regulator to Apply Bitcoin Caps Even Before They Become Law