The payments landscape for community banks is changing rapidly as traditional payments converge with new instant payment systems and emerging cryptocurrencies. It is critical for Community Banks to maintain awareness of developments in the payments space to assess new opportunities, mitigate risks, and ensure that their payment strategy aligns with overall business plans.
Dec. 15, 2023
The Basel Committee published a new consultation paper proposing to refine how it treats stablecoins in its standards for banks’ cryptoasset exposures.
Details: Specifically, the committee proposed 11 enhancements to stablecoin issuers’ reserve assets to guard against the risk of issuers not having enough funds to cover redemptions. The Basel panel also remains extremely cautious about assets issued on permissionless blockchains—on which all major stablecoins are issued—and determined that these assets have “a number of unique risks, some of which cannot be sufficiently mitigated at present.”
Next: Comments on the proposed adjustments are due by March 28. ICBA is reviewing the document and plans to submit comments.
ICBA View: ICBA has called on policymakers to ensure new policies directed at the crypto sector fully reflect its risks and to ensure protecting national security and implementing anti-crime measures are primary drivers of crypto policymaking and regulation.
