Switzerland’s financial regulator Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has approved the country’s first-ever fund dedicated to cryptocurrency. Dubbed the Crypto Market Index Fund, the crypto fund is categorized under “other funds for alternative investments.”
While the fund would be regulated by law, the Swiss regulatory watchdog says it has been in a technology-neutral way to facilitate innovation and ensure that new technologies are not used to circumvent existing rules.
Owing to the risky nature of crypto assets, FINMA has tied the approval to specific requirements. One of them being that the fund may invest only in established assets with a sufficiently large trading volume.
Investments, according to a statement from the regulator, must also be made through established counterparties and platforms that are based in a member country of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Crypto adoption on the rise
Across the world, investors and governments are increasingly adopting cryptocurrency with 2021 being a record-breaking year for the crypto space. El Salvador, in early September, made Bitcoin a legal tender, with Paraguay, Argentina, and Panama showing interest in adopting Bitcoin as well. Cuba seems to have followed in El Salvador’s footsteps by permitting cryptocurrency use in commercial payments.
Join our Trading Community for more signals!
Major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have also launched crypto-centered funds for investors as the demand for cryptocurrency rises.
The US city of Miami has built its own crypto coin called Miami Coin which works on top of the Bitcoin infrastructure. These funds are used by the governor towards development activity in the city.
Despite the rise in crypto adoption across the world, other countries like China have intensified their crackdown on cryptocurrency.
