Major U.S. banks are seeking to ease capital rules introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, arguing the Basel framework being pursued could reduce U.S. Treasury market liquidity and weaken market functioning. Regulators are reviewing possible adjustments to balance financial stability and market efficiency. Banks say the new Basel capital rules could sharply raise trading-unit capital burdens. Markets are watching potential effects on lending capacity, liquidity and risk appetite, including possible spillovers to bitcoin and stablecoins.

Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden set out a strategy to modernise Britain’s financial system with tokenisation at its core. Speaking at the City Week 2026 conference in London, she said future retail payments should be built on interoperable forms of money including tokenised deposits and stablecoins. She said distributed ledger technology could cut intermediaries and speed up payments, and that smart contracts could raise efficiency.