The Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS) urged banks to implement safeguards when dealing with "unstable" cryptoassets in a statement released on Wednesday, saying that their continued growth posed financial stability concerns.
The institution also said that cryptoassets such as Bitcoin should not be relied on as an exchange medium or store of value and that they posed "a number of risks" for banks, such as liquidity, credit and market risk among others. However, the BCBS stated that if banks wished to deal with cryptoassets, it should adopt certain minimum measures, such as due diligence, governance and risk management, disclosure and supervisory dialogue.
The committee concluded by stating that it would continue to monitor developments in cryptoassets and "in due course" clarify the best ways in which banks could minimize their exposures to them. It also confirmed that it would coordinate its work with the Financial Stability Board, which said in a previous report in July that cryptoassets did not "pose a material risk to global financial stability."
