On Wednesday, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced its launch of a newly established cryptocurrency fund, making it the first UN agency that can receive donations and make disbursements in bitcoin and ether without having to convert the cryptocurrencies into fiat currency. The first contributions to the fund will be made by the Ethereum Foundation; the grantees are organizations dedicated to connecting schools around the world to the internet.

Earlier this week, the Swiss-based SIX Digital Exchange announced its collaboration with the central bank of Switzerland (SNB) on a project exploring how digital central bank money can be used in the trading and settlement of cryptocurrencies between market participants. Also this week, trade publication CoinDesk announced a major Swiss-based investment bank's confirmation that it now accepts transactions on we.trade, a blockchain-based trade finance platform launched in 2018. The bank reportedly stated that the transactions are focused on facilitating services to small and midsized enterprises. And B2C2, a UK-based over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform, has reportedly launched a gold derivatives product that synthetically trades against bitcoin, enabling clients to trade gold priced in bitcoin and settle trades in bitcoin. B2C2 reportedly commented that the product will give clients "access to the underlying metal, since they correspond to ownership of physical gold in vaults."

On Thursday, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) issued a comprehensive set of regulations focused on funds investing in cryptocurrencies as well as the trading platforms on which the currencies are traded. The new regime essentially closes a regulatory loophole, as neither digital currency funds nor their trading platforms were under the regulatory purview of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority or the SFC. The guidelines also reflect the regulatory differences between Hong Kong and mainland China, where cryptocurrency initial coin offerings and exchanges have been banned since September 2017. Japan also issued guidelines for funds investing in cryptocurrencies in late September.

For more information, please refer to the following links:

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.