Wealthy clients of a Swiss bank UBS they now have the opportunity to negotiate certain Crypto ETFs in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported.
This information was published the day after HSBCone of the world’s largest banks, has announced its plans to launch a digital asset custody service for institutional clients.
Let’s see all the details below.
Swiss bank UBS responds to client needs: new trading options with crypto ETFs
As expected, according to the statement Bloombergciting a well-informed source, wealthy clients of the Swiss bank UBS now have the opportunity to access three exchange traded funds (ETFs) in relation to cryptocurrencies through the platform of a credit institution in Hong Kong.
The aforementioned ETFs, so-called Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active, CSOP Bitcoin Futures and CSOP Ether Futures, they are all licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Hong Kong’s securities regulator.
In total, the three products have assets of approximately $72 million.
This news is particularly significant as it comes after HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks, announced its intention to launch a digital asset custody service for institutional clients.
Recently, Hong Kong has taken steps to allow retail investors to buy exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to cryptocurrencies place and participate mainly in tokenization.
This development therefore appears to represent a further step in Hong Kong’s ambitions to become a hub for virtual assets.
Last June, the city really carried it out new regulationsaccepting license applications for cryptocurrency trading platforms and issuing the first licenses in August, allowing exchanges to also serve retail clients.
Additionally, it should be noted that UBS was recently selected among the six commercial banks involved in the central bank’s digital currency pilot project (CBDC) in cooperation with Swiss National Bank (SNB).
Finally, let’s recall that in March of this year, UBS stepped in to provide support Credit Suisse after its financial crisis. Right after that, the price is Bitcoin it rose above $28,000.
News also from the SNB: new pilot project for central bank digital currency (CBDC)
Recently, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) launched an innovative pilot project for its vcentral bank digital currency (CBDC), focused on the regulation of interbank transactions on the primary and secondary markets.
Including several commercial banks, including UBS, Zurcher Kantonalbankk, Commerz Bank, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, the pilot project of the so-called Helvetia phase III is based on two previous studies, in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and SIX Digital Exchange (SDX).
In the new project, the SNB will rely on SDX for technical leadership, hosting studies on its platform based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) and acting as a “trusted gateway” for participants.
In this regard, SDX stated the following:
“The objective of the pilot project is to test, in a live production environment, the settlement of primary and secondary market transactions in wCBDC. Participating banks will be able to issue digital bonds in Swiss francs, which will be settled under the wCBDC on a delivery versus payment basis.”
This new phase of the wholesale CBDC pilot will focus on digital securities transactions, following the promising results obtained in previous studies. In the future, Helvetia Phase III will explore the feasibility of CBDCs in repo transactions, using digital bonds to secure transactions.
CEO of SDX, David Newns, highlighted Switzerland’s leading role in this technological evolution, predicting that the initiative will usher in a new era of digital finance and shape the trajectory of the global financial sector.
Furthermore, the European nation has made progressive progress in financial tokenization, working with bodies such as the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Other ReutersThe start of the pilot project is expected in December and will last until mid-2024.
