European Union governments appear to support new bank-capital standards, which could see unbacked crypto treated as the riskiest kind of asset for lenders to hold, said Mats Anderson, a Swedish diplomat leading talks on new legislation. This could mean assets such as bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) are given the maximum possible risk weight as part of a lengthy set of banking laws, which could be agreed as soon as next week.
In January, the European Parliament proposed to give crypto assets like bitcoin the maximum possible 1,250 percent risk weight, meaning lenders would have to hold a euro of capital for each euro of crypto issued. However, the European Commission proposed to ease that somewhat by allowing lower risk weights for stablecoins regulated under a separate law known as MiCA, which takes effect in 2024.
Progress with talks makes me hopeful that we can strike an agreement at least by the end of June, said commission official Martin Merlin, a director at the EU executive’s financial-services arm. Anderson appeared to suggest a political deal may even be possible at a meeting scheduled for June 15.
The banking package has proved thorny, and includes controversial non-crypto topics such as how to assess the risk of corporate loans and how to treat foreign lenders entering the bloc. But after more than 18 months of talks, officials now appear to feel a deal is imminent.