The Federal Reserve will launch a 90-day consultation period for the Basel III proposal, with bitcoin facing a 1250% risk weight.

PANews, March 13 — According to Bitcoin.com, Michelle Bowman, Vice Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve, stated that U.S. regulators will propose rules for implementing the final phase of Basel III in the coming weeks, expected to be released during the week of March 17–21, followed by a 90-day public comment period. The proposal is being coordinated by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. According to the global crypto framework finalized by the Basel Committee in 2022, bitcoin is classified as a Group 2b asset, which regulators consider difficult to hedge and inherently volatile, facing a 1250% risk weight. This means that a bank holding a $100 million bitcoin exposure would be treated as having $1.25 billion in risk-weighted assets and would need to hold approximately $100 million in capital against it.

Compared to the zero risk weight for cash, gold, and U.S. Treasury bonds, and the 20%-100% range for corporate loans, bitcoin’s capital treatment is extremely stringent. Crypto industry institutions have criticized the framework for misclassifying bitcoin and preventing banks from offering related services.