Fed finalizes stress test changes to boost transparency, cut capital volatility

The substance here is procedural rather than directional: the Fed is trading some discretion in how capital buffers are set for a clearer, more predictable rulebook. For large banks, that matters less as a near-term capital event than as a change in how much of the annual exam outcome is knowable in advance, which feeds directly into funding and balance-sheet planning. The open question is whether smoother capital requirements change bank appetite for the credit and liquidity-intensive activities that touch tokenized assets and RWA markets.