Skip to main content

Systemic Risk Designation

Definition

Systemic risk designation identifies financial entities whose failure could cause widespread instability across the entire financial system. This official classification is applied by regulatory authorities to institutions deemed “too big to fail” or too interconnected, necessitating enhanced oversight and capital requirements to prevent contagion. In the evolving digital asset landscape, there is an ongoing discussion about which large cryptocurrency firms, stablecoin issuers, or decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols might warrant such a designation due to their scale and potential impact on broader markets. The aim is to protect financial stability from shocks originating within the digital asset sector.