Basel Committee Publishes Study About Crypto and Banks

Time for some interesting statistics. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is an international organization in charge of standardizing its members’ operations. According to its study, banks worldwide have a combined 9.4 billion euros worth of cryptocurrency in their possession.

The study included 182 global banks that the committee supervises, out of which 19 banks own crypto. Most of them are from the Americas – 10, while Europe is following with 7 banks.

Crypto assets make up 0.14% of the 19 banks’ combined overall risk-weighted assets. When banks that don’t own crypto are included, that’s 0.01% of the overall risk-weighted assets.

Most of the crypto is held for custody and insurance or used for market-making, with only some 4% directed toward borrowing and lending. As expected, Bitcoin is leading in terms of different cryptos owned by banks, as it comprises 31% of their crypto exposure. Ethereum is following with 22%, while various Ether derivatives make up 35%.

The Basel Committee, however, warns that the findings should be taken with a grain of salt, as it’s hard to tell just how precise the banks were when participating.