The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will implement the Basel capital requirements for crypto assets on January 1, 2026

ChainCatcher news, according to Caixin, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority recently issued a circular confirming that starting from January 1, 2026, it will fully implement new banking capital regulations based on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's standards for cryptocurrency asset regulation in Hong Kong.

Fei Si, a partner at King & Wood Mallesons in Hong Kong and a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Law, stated in an exclusive interview with Caixin that the new regulations set the risk weight for cryptocurrency asset exposure using unlicensed blockchain technology at a maximum of 1250%. This means that banks must hold capital at a ratio of at least 1:1 against these cryptocurrency asset exposures. Such high regulatory capital requirements will lead many banks to be unwilling to hold these types of cryptocurrency assets.