Banks Across the Globe Held a Total of 341.5 Billion Euros ($368.3 Billion) in Crypto Assets Under Custody

BCBS, which focuses on setting measures to ensure the stability of banks, gathered voluntary and confidential submissions from 176 banks — of which 115 are internationally active — in June 2024.

Banks worldwide held a total of 341.5 billion euros ($368.3 billion) in crypto assets under custody in the second quarter, but these assets now make up less than 3% of banks' holdings, data by standard setter Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) showed on Wednesday.

This compares with around 7% in 2021, showing how quickly crypto exposure has dwindled as a proportion of banks' overall holdings.

The data, which were focused on the second quarter and took into account a snapshot of June 2024, were part of broader figures that the BCBS collects regularly to gauge the stability of the banking sector.

For this survey, the BCBS, which recommends measures to ensure the stability of banks, had gathered voluntary and confidential submissions from 176 banks, of which 115 were internationally active. Of the total, 29 banks reported holding crypto assets.

The figures showed that the vast majority of these holdings were in exchange-traded products, rather than crypto assets themselves. About 92.5% of banks' holdings were now in these more regulated products tracking crypto prices, the BCBS survey showed.

Global watchdogs have been keeping a close eye on how interlinked the financial sector is with crypto following the collapse of crypto-friendly banks like Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Banks in 2023. The BCBS had also recommended that banks' spot crypto exposure should not exceed 2%.

Banks' exposure to spot crypto holdings fell 44% between 2021 to 2022. As of the June survey, banks held almost no spot crypto, at 2.46%, instead preferring exchange-traded products.