Global Banks Are Betting Big On XRP, Report Shows

Global banks have begun actively integrating crypto assets into their financial operations, and XRP has been one of their top preferences. This news signifies a shift in the skepticism surrounding cryptocurrencies, revealing how some of the world’s leading banks seek to leverage XRP’s fundamental strengths as a cross-border payments system. 

The Basel Committee on Bank Supervision (BCBS) has recently published its first data collection template report on banks’ holdings of crypto assets. This report gives detailed insight into the crypto exposure of global banks. 

According to the publication, 19 out of 182 world banks in the Basel III monitoring exercise have submitted their crypto asset data to the BCBS for review and analysis. Out of the 19 banks, seven banks submitted reports from Europe, 10 banks From the Americas, and two from other parts of the world. 

The data collection template revealed that the majority of banks submitted reports on crypto asset exposure, primarily featuring XRP, BTC, and ETH cryptocurrencies. 

The report stated that the total crypto asset exposures submitted by the global banks amounted to €9.4 billion (around $10 billion). Among these exposures, XRP emerged as the third-largest altcoin utilized for bank engagements. 

XRP investments comprised 2% equivalent to €188 million of the total crypto asset exposures. While Bitcoin and Ether were ranked 31% and 22% respectively. 

“Reported crypto-asset exposures are primarily composed of Bitcoin (31%), Ether (22%), and a multitude of instruments with either Bitcoin or Ether as the underlying crypto assets (25% and 10% respectively),” the report stated. 

This report underscores the growing interest of XRP in the financial banking sector. The Basel III monitoring exercise report also provides a valuable benchmark for gaining insight into the position of cryptocurrencies in the financial sector. 

In the Basel III monitoring exercise template, a collective composition of crypto asset exposures by 19 of the world banks was disclosed. The report stated that the total crypto asset exposures stand at about €9.4 billion, representing a modest fraction of the cumulative crypto-asset exposures across the 182 banks covered by the BCBS. 

Overall, the crypto asset exposures of the 19 banks constitute 0.05% of the total financial commitments made by the institutions under the Basel III monitoring exercise. 

“Total crypto-asset exposures reported by banks amount to approximately €9.4 billion. In relative terms, these exposures make up only 0.05% of total exposures on a weighted average basis across the sample of banks reporting crypto-asset exposures,” the report stated. 

It added: 

“When considering the whole sample of banks included in the Basel III monitoring exercise (i.e. also those that do not report crypto-asset exposures), the amount shrinks to 0.01% of total exposures.”

The data collection template also revealed other crypto assets employed by these world banks such as Cardano (1%), Solana (1%) Litecoin (0.4%), and Stellar (0.4%).