11th September 2025 > > OECD & the EU.

tl;dr

The OECD’s inaugural Crypto Roundtable starts in firing fashion. The EU just cannot stop itself from ruining stuff.

Market Snap 

Market Wrap

Spot ETF inflows, both BTC and ETH, have picked up again, providing a timely boost to asset prices.

Curious Cryptos’ meme corner

h/t Dr. Chloe (*).

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – OECD Crypto Roundtable

Paul Atkins, Chair of the SEC, gave the keynote speech at the inaugural EOCD Crypto Roundtable at which he once again reinforced the pro-crypto pivot at the SEC’s highest levels:

https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-keynote-address-inaugural-oecd-roundtable-global-financial-markets-091025

Perhaps the highlight was this comment:

“Most crypto tokens are not securities …”

Have that, Gary Gensler.

And if someone has not yet got the memo, Paul sets it out once more:

“For too long, the SEC has weaponized its investigatory, subpoena, and enforcement authorities to subvert the crypto industry. That approach was not only ineffective, but injurious; it drove jobs, innovation, and capital overseas. American entrepreneurs bore the brunt—and have been forced to spend fortunes on building a legal defense instead of a business. That chapter belongs to history.”

Have some more of that, Gary Gensler.

And again:

“It is a new day at the SEC. Policy will no longer be set by ad hoc enforcement actions. We will provide clear, predictable rules of the road so that innovators can thrive in the United States. President Trump has tasked me and my counterparts across the Administration with making America the crypto capital of the world—and the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets has delivered a bold blueprint to guide us in these efforts.”

Have yet more of that, Gary Gensler. And Senator Elizabeth Warren too, while we are at it.

…

During our fireside chats, Paul and I are at one on many topics, not least this one:

“… the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation exemplifies a comprehensive digital assets regime. Some European policy makers have already called for a “MiCA 2” to address decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens, and digital asset lending. I applaud our European allies for their foresight in this initial attempt at regulatory clarity and think it is paramount for the United States to learn from these efforts.”

The CCC has long been fulsome in our praise for MiCA, the gold standard for global crypto regulation.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The EU

And then the EU goes and ruins it, to the great surprise of precisely no-one at all.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has not got the memo and is actively working against the EU Commission’s drive to create crypto tax dollars for it to waste and fritter away:

https://www.eba.europa.eu/publications-and-media/press-releases/eba-publishes-draft-technical-standards-prudential-treatment-crypto-asset-exposures-under-capital

This new rule addresses the issue of risk weighting for assets held on the balance of regulated banks. If I haven’t already lost you, I will try to make this as simple as possible.

Under the Basel rules, banks must have a capital base to support assets held on the balance sheet, effectively acting as insurance against a deterioration in the quality of those assets. A very sound principle, but one which has been subverted for political purposes. The cynic in me might claim that that was the original intention all along, but hey, no-one is going to admit that as a fact, so we move on.

As an example, investment grade government bonds have been allocated a zero percent risk weighting. This means that there needs to be no capital put aside in case those assets lose value. Hmmm. The recent 400 bps or so increase in the yield of 10-year government bonds led to a near 40% reduction in the value of those 10-year government bonds. I am not sure anyone can say that is a risk-free trade with a straight face, but it certainly suits fiscally incontinent governments worldwide to pretend otherwise.

When we look at cryptos, this proposed ruling gives crypto a 1,250% risk weighting. What does this mean in practice? Banco Intesa Sanpaolo has EUR 1mm of BTC on its balance sheet valued at acquisition price. It is certainly worth a lot more now, but as it is held in the banking book it has not been revalued higher. This rule means that Intesa would need to put EUR 12.5mm of capital aside to protect shareholders against a maximum loss of EUR 1mm. In what world does that make any sense? Well, there is one, and that is a world inhabited by bureaucrats who are dead set against the crypto revolution for they fear they will fade into yet more irrelevance, if that was even possible. Much like SAB 121 in the US, this rule will one day be swept aside, but that day will come too late for regulated banks in the EU to become dominant players in the crypto world.

What a huge shame for EU taxpayers.

…

(*) At first, I laughed a lot on seeing this. Then I got a little tetchy, thinking that this version didn’t scan as well as the original, and tried to figure out how to improve it. Mostly failing at that task, I gave up and asked Perplexity if I was right:

“Overall, the parody preserves the Lord’s Prayer’s rhythmic backbone and structure, so it reads and scans effectively, with just a few minor tweaks for comic and contextual effect.”

I think I need to relax a bit more about stuff in life, though I do think that the CCC’s version of “What have the Romans ever done for us” is funnier. But I would say that.