The Financial Stability Board’s High-level Recommendations for the Regulation, Supervision and Oversight of Crypto-Asset Activities and Markets are a 2023 global standard for national financial regulators considering how to regulate crypto-asset activities and markets. Published on 17 July 2023, the final report sets nine recommendations for authorities over crypto-asset issuers, service providers, trading platforms and other activities that may pose financial stability risk. The recommendations are not self-executing law; they operate as a global regulatory baseline for domestic frameworks and are designed to be technology-neutral and risk-focused.
What the FSB 2023 crypto-asset recommendations cover
The recommendations sit within the FSB’s broader global regulatory framework for crypto-asset activities, alongside separate revised recommendations for global stablecoin arrangements. The framework reflects the principle of “same activity, same risk, same regulation” and is meant to promote more consistent regulatory and supervisory outcomes across jurisdictions. The FSB states that the recommendations are flexible enough to be incorporated into different domestic regulatory systems and do not displace existing legal, supervisory or oversight frameworks.
The report covers crypto-asset activities and markets broadly, including issuers and service providers. It also says the recommendations should inform oversight of activities conducted through so-called decentralized finance protocols when those activities pose, or could pose, financial stability risks. Central bank digital currencies are excluded, and global stablecoin arrangements are addressed through the separate FSB stablecoin recommendations.
Key provisions for regulators and crypto-asset service providers
The first recommendations focus on regulatory powers and perimeter. Authorities are asked to have adequate powers, tools and resources to regulate, supervise and oversee crypto-asset activities and markets, including authorization, licensing, inspections and enforcement tools where applicable. The general framework recommendation asks authorities to apply comprehensive and effective regulation on a functional basis, proportionate to the financial stability risks posed by the relevant activity.
The FSB also emphasizes domestic and international cooperation. Authorities are asked to share information, coordinate in normal and stress periods, and address cross-border service providers whose activities may affect more than one jurisdiction. The framework highlights the risk that offshore structures, fragmented oversight or multi-jurisdictional groups can create regulatory gaps.
Several recommendations address governance, risk management, data and disclosure. Authorities should require crypto-asset issuers and service providers to maintain governance frameworks with clear accountability, risk-management systems proportionate to their activities, data systems that support timely and accurate reporting, and transparent disclosures to users and other stakeholders. The final report also highlights client-asset safeguarding, including controls, ownership-right disclosures, segregation and record-keeping for service providers that hold or safeguard crypto-assets.
Interconnections, DeFi and multi-function intermediaries
The final recommendations ask authorities to monitor connections within the crypto ecosystem and between crypto markets, traditional finance and the real economy. The FSB identifies multi-function crypto-asset service providers as a particular focus because the same group may combine trading, custody, settlement, lending, borrowing, market-making, wallet services or proprietary trading. Where such combinations are permitted, the recommendations call for oversight that addresses conflicts of interest, concentration of control, risk segregation and possible separation of functions.
The report does not comprehensively cover all crypto policy issues. The FSB notes that areas such as AML/CFT, data privacy, cybersecurity, investor protection, market integrity, taxation, monetary policy and competition may be addressed by other standard setters or domestic authorities. However, the report cross-references FATF standards for AML/CFT controls and travel-rule compliance as part of effective risk management.
Status and implementation timeline
The FSB issued a consultative report on 11 October 2022 and requested public responses by 15 December 2022. It published the final recommendations on 17 July 2023 after considering consultation feedback and events in crypto-asset markets during 2022 and early 2023. The 2023 final report committed the FSB, standard-setting bodies and international organizations to continue coordination and review implementation by the end of 2025.
On 16 October 2025, the FSB published a thematic review of its global regulatory framework based on information as of August 2025. That review reported progress in regulating crypto-asset activities and service providers, but also identified significant gaps and inconsistencies across jurisdictions. As of 21 July 2026, this profile treats the 2023 recommendations as an active, non-binding global standard rather than a directly enforceable law.
