Changing Basel rules could unlock ‘huge’ liquidity for BTC: Analyst
16.03.2026
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The Basel III rules, which govern bank capital requirements, are set to be updated in 2026, and if Bitcoin (BTC) receives a lower risk rating in the revised rules, it could trigger a “huge” influx of liquidity into BTC, according to market analyst Nic Puckrin.
Basel Reform May Bring Wave of Fresh Bank Capital to BTC — Analyst
Hold up — banks might finally be able to go all-in on Bitcoin. Basel III rules are getting a 2026 refresh, and if BTC gets a lower risk rating, analyst Nic Puckrin says we could see a "huge" liquidity tsunami hit the market.
Right now, Basel slaps BTC with a brutal 1,250% risk weight. Translation: banks need to hold $1 in reserves for every $1 of Bitcoin they own. That makes holding BTC "almost impossible" for traditional banks, Puckrin explains.
“The Fed just announced a proposal on how these rules will be implemented in the US, with a 90-day public comment window. If BTC’s treatment improves even slightly, it could open the door for banks to finally integrate BTC into the financial system.”
Back in February, crypto treasury execs were already screaming for Basel reforms. They want risk weights that actually make sense — not this 1,250% nonsense that basically bans banks from playing in the blockchain economy.
Basel rules create a different kind of chokepoint
The Basel Committee dropped this crypto-hostile framework in 2021, throwing digital assets into the highest risk bucket. Let's break down how messed up these numbers are:
- • BTC/crypto: 1,250% risk weight
- • Investment-grade corporate bonds: up to 75%
- • Gold/gov bonds/cash: 0%
Jeff Walton from Bitcoin treasury company Strive calls this out hard: "risk is mispriced." Meanwhile, Chris Perkins at CoinFund says Basel's capital requirements are a "very nuanced way of suppressing activity" — basically a stealth version of Operation Chokepoint 2.0 that makes crypto services too expensive for banks to bother with.
#Basel III#legislation#Institutional interest in crypto#regulation#Traditional banks and cryptocurrency
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