Global banks’ total exposure to crypto is 0.01%

Despite the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) around the world, the total exposure to digital assets by global banks still remains relatively small, according to a new report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Specifically, the total cryptocurrency exposures reported by banks across the globe amount to approximately €9.4 billion ($9.18 billion), BIS’s Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) noted in its Basel III Monitoring Report published on September 30.

This makes the total exposure to digital assets of roughly 0.14% of the overall exposures “on a weighted average basis across the sample of banks reporting cryptoasset exposures,” according to the report.

Only 0.01% across all banks

Additionally, the international financial institution stated that:

“When considering the whole sample of banks included in the Basel III monitoring exercise (ie also those that do not report cryptoasset exposures), the amount shrinks to 0.01% of total exposures.”

Furthermore, the report has also found that crypto assets were “unevenly distributed across banks, with two banks making up more than half of overall cryptoasset exposures, and four more banks making up just below 40% of the remaining exposures,” as illustrated by the graph.

BIS’s skepticism toward cryptocurrencies

It is worth noting that, in late June, the BCBS had made a proposal for limiting the banks’ total exposures to “Group 2 cryptossets to 1% of Tier 1 capital” in its consultative document titled “Second consultation on the prudential treatment of cryptoassets,” as Finbold reported.

Earlier in June, BIS reaffirmed its crypto skepticism by issuing warnings that “crypto cannot fulfill the social role of money.” and that the significant crypto sell-off at the time had indicated the materialization of its predictions about the dangers of decentralized finance (DeFi).

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