A leading Bitcoin advocate has called on the US Federal Reserve to explicitly include Bitcoin as a standalone variable in its 2026 supervisory stress tests, arguing that the asset’s volatility and growing institutional footprint make it unsuitable to be grouped with other cryptocurrencies.
Pierre Rochard, CEO of The Bitcoin Bond Company, submitted a formal letter to the Federal Reserve Board on January 20. In it, he challenged the current approach to crypto risk modelling and proposed stress-test calibration based on Bitcoin’s historical price behaviour going back to 2015.
Rochard’s submission highlights Bitcoin’s 73.3% annualised realised volatility, compared with 18.1% for the S&P 500, alongside a peak-to-trough drawdown of 83.8%. He argued that Bitcoin’s extreme and non-linear risk profile affects valuations, margin requirements, counterparty exposure, and liquidity demands in ways that traditional macro or equity-based proxies fail to capture.
The letter also points to Bitcoin’s unstable correlation with equities, noting that its relationship with the S&P 500 has shifted from negative to strongly positive across different market regimes. According to Rochard, relying on a fixed correlation risks both understating and overstating bank exposure depending on conditions.
He proposed that the Fed publish quarterly Bitcoin price paths for baseline, adverse, and severely adverse scenarios, allowing banks with direct or indirect exposure to apply consistent assumptions, while firms without exposure could simply disregard the variable.
The request comes as policymakers continue to debate Bitcoin’s role within the US financial system. The Federal Reserve’s public comment period for the 2026 stress test scenarios closes on February 21, after which regulators will decide whether to adjust the framework ahead of next year’s supervisory cycle.
In Conclusion, A leading Bitcoin advocate has called on the U.S. Federal Reserve to include BTC in its 2026 stress tests, emphasising the growing importance of cryptocurrencies in global finance. Inclusion of Bitcoin in such regulatory assessments could signal increased recognition of digital assets within traditional financial systems, impacting investors and markets worldwide. For Money Middle East investors and institutions closely monitoring crypto adoption, this move highlights the region’s potential to engage more strategically with evolving digital finance trends.
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