RIYADH: The Swiss financial markets supervisor has joined many other regulators worldwide by giving approval to the country’s first fund that invests primarily in crypto assets, Arab News reported.

The Crypto Market Index Fund is restricted to qualified investors and categorised under other funds for alternative investments with particular risks, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, FINMA said in a statement.

Since crypto assets involve particular risks, FINMA said it had tied the approval to specific requirements, including that the fund may invest only in established assets with a sufficiently large trading volume.

No to crypto

Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, has announced via its official website that it will no longer allow crypto-mining equipment to be sold on its platform.

The company also stressed that anyone who evades these rules and places cryptocurrency products in other categories will be punished, it will remove or delete listed products, deduct points, restrict the use of site functions, and close accounts.

This move is the result of the recent ban imposed by the Chinese government on cryptocurrencies trading and mining.

“Alibaba.com will prohibit the sale of virtual currency miners in addition to the prohibition against selling virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, BeaoCoin, QuarkCoin, and Ethereum”, according to the statement.

Digital currency project

The Central Bank of Ukraine is looking to hire a blockchain expert to support its digital currency project, as it recently published a job posting describing the role and responsibilities, said Vladimir Nagornyuk, the bank’s IT director.

The blockchain specialist is expected to be involved in the development and improvement of highly accessible distributed infrastructure, systems and services.

New legislation

US Sen. Maggie Hassan, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Sen. Joni Ernst have introduced legislation related to cryptocurrency.

The bill states that its purpose is to require the treasury secretary to report to Congress on cryptocurrencies and global competitiveness, with the aim of improving oversight of them and mining operations in foreign countries.

“The bill would require the Treasury Department to report to Congress on virtual currencies and their use globally, including how other countries are using and mining cryptocurrencies, and how cryptocurrency mining operations are impacting supply chains, including for critical technologies like semiconductors”, Sen. Hassan explained.

Expansion

El Salvador, which adopted Bitcoin as a legal currency in early September, is expanding its use of the cryptocurrency despite protests against it.

The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, posted on his official Twitter account a video of the first Bitcoin mining factory using the power of thermal volcanoes.

Market

Bitcoin traded higher on Wednesday, rising by 0.33 per cent to $41,689 at 7:11pm Riyadh time, while Ether traded at $2,863.98, up 0.28 per cent, according to the CoinDesk data.