New frontiers: crypto-assets and digital assets and climate-related financial risks

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Since 2019, the Committee has extended its work to risks that did not exist or were not recognised when the earlier accords were drafted. The most prominent is the treatment of banks' exposures to crypto-assets and digital assets. After a discussion paper in December 2019 and two consultations, the Committee published its standard on the prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures in December 2022. It divides such assets into two groups. Group 1 comprises tokenised traditional assets and stablecoins with effective stabilisation mechanisms, which are treated broadly like the underlying exposures, while Group 2 covers all other crypto-assets, including unbacked assets such as bitcoin. These receive a risk weight of 1,250 per cent. A bank's total Group 2 exposures are subject to a limit of in principle 1 per cent of Tier 1 capital.¹

In July 2024, the Committee published targeted amendments that clarified the criteria for stablecoins to qualify for Group 1 and postponed the implementation date to 1 January 2026. Several major jurisdictions, including the United States and the United Kingdom, signalled that they would not implement the standard in its current form by that date. In late 2025, the Committee announced that it would expedite a review of elements of the standard in the light of market developments, notably the growth of stablecoins.² For banks in Switzerland, where FINMA has adopted the standard in its own regulatory practice, and for financial centres that seek to attract business in crypto-assets and digital assets, the outcome of this review will determine whether banks can hold such assets on their balance sheets at reasonable cost. The tokenisation projects of the BIS Innovation Hub are discussed in Part K.

The second new field is climate-related financial risk. The Committee established a high-level task force in 2020 and published "Principles for the effective management and supervision of climate-related financial risks" in June 2022. The eighteen principles address corporate governance, internal controls, capital and liquidity adequacy, risk management, scenario analysis and the responsibilities of supervisors.³ A consultation on Pillar 3 disclosure of climate-related financial risks followed in November 2023. In 2025, the Committee published a voluntary disclosure framework, after members had failed to agree on a mandatory standard, a result widely attributed to the changed position of the United States. The status of this framework and of further climate work is to be verified.⁴

Notes

1. Basel Committee, Prudential Treatment of Cryptoasset Exposures (December 2022), integrated into the consolidated framework as chapter SCO60. To be verified. ↩
2. Basel Committee, Cryptoasset Standard Amendments (July 2024); subsequent statements on the review of the standard in 2025. Status to be verified. ↩
3. Basel Committee, Principles for the Effective Management and Supervision of Climate-related Financial Risks (June 2022). To be verified. ↩
4. Basel Committee, consultative document Disclosure of Climate-related Financial Risks (November 2023) and the voluntary framework published in 2025. Status to be verified. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.