Washington is admitting bank losses never really went away
The post Washington is admitting bank losses never really went away appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Make CryptoSlate preferred on Washington is in a generous mood with its banks. In March, federal regulators unveiled a sweeping overhaul of capital requirements (the financial cushions that banks must hold to absorb losses in hard times), and the headlines wrote themselves: deregulation, relief, billions freed up for lending and buybacks. The proposal would cut the required capital for the largest Wall Street firms by nearly 5%. The Federal Reserve estimated that roughly $20 billion in capital could be released for the eight largest banks alone. Former Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr put the figure even higher, warning the total could reach $60 billion once all related changes were factored in. Why this matters: Bank stability depends less on reported capital and more on what markets believe is actually there. If unrealized losses are still sitting on balance sheets, confidence can break faster than regulation can react, turning a technical accounting issue into a liquidity crisis. Related Reading White House crypto czar leaves office after securing crypto wins for banks and institutions instead of Bitcoin David Sacks exits after shaping U.S. crypto policy, delivering institutional gains while Bitcoin promises remain unresolved. Mar 27, 2026 · Liam ‘Akiba’ Wright But something unexpected surfaces when you read the fine print. Regulators carved out one specific exception: certain large regional banks would have to begin accounting for unrealized losses on their books, a change directly tied to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. That provision, largely overlooked in coverage of the broader rollback, amounts to a regulatory admission. To understand why, you need to understand what an “unrealized loss” actually is for banks. Imagine you buy a ten-year government bond for $100. Interest rates then rise sharply, new bonds now pay more, making yours less attractive as its market…
Filed under: News - @ April 4, 2026 8:09 am