At the same time, CyberTrust announces the launch of its new Russia-focused exchange CyberEX.

Over the past several years, the existence of a large pool of liquidity in cryptocurrencies has changed the financial world, creating both new opportunities and new challenges. Billions of dollars have been raised to fund projects which otherwise might never seen the light of day by providing a new investment model whereby investors can invest in startups without sacrificing liquidity. This is accomplished thanks to the issuance of blockchain-based tokens. Countries all around the world have struggled to adapt their regulatory frameworks to accommodate this new reality, and in this, neither China nor Russia are exceptions. From the outset, China’s policy has been to encourage financial innovation by an almost complete lack of regulation, while Russia for years remained more skeptical.

With cryptocurrency-based financing volumes exploding in 2017, that has now changed. Both countries have clearly signalled their determination to take a more active stance. While actual legislation still remains pending, both countries seem determined to recognize this new reality in terms of their legislative frameworks. Concretely, that means a clearer regulatory environment in return for integration of crypto-based financing into the existing financial system.

Having built themselves into market leaders, today the Shanghai-based Metaverse Foundation and the Moscow-based KICKICO platforms, in conjunction with Swiss-based CyberTrust, announced their intention to create a fund to use this unique cutting-edge tool to further enhance Russian-Chinese cooperation. This will be accomplished by funding businesses in both countries, as well as by supporting businesses to extend innovative business models from one country to another. KICKICO and Metaverse Foundation will provide support services to help facilitate this.

Metaverse Foundation CEO Eric Gu commented, “China is in the process of creating a new regulatory framework to accommodate the blockchain revolution, and we are determined to work together with authorities to make that happen. This new fund can help demonstrate how we can use these new tools to create real added value in both countries.”

CyberTrust CEO Evgeny Xata echoed this sentiment. “The success of the KICKICO platform shows that Russia has taken a leadership role in the area of financial innovation, and we at CyberTrust are determined to help drive this process forward. And especially, with the latest enforcements made by China regulators on ICO, CyberTrust custody and securitization services are now vital to perform ICO and satisfy the regulatory requirements.”

The Chinese-Russian Cryptocurrency Fund will support innovative projects both from Russia and China, Moreover, the Fund aims to develop necessary infrastructure for the emergence of new projects and the adaptation of blockchain technologies in these two countries. Initial funding will 100 million USD in cryptocurrency equivalent (BTC/ETH/BCH), but Eric Gu believes Chinese investors can be tapped to attract an additional 100m.

Over the next year, the fund partners plan to conduct about 100 ICO projects. Eric Gu noted: "I am confident that by our joint efforts we will be able to significantly accelerate and even revolutionize the development of the blockchain industry in both countries. For the meanwhile, until Chinese authorities create a new regulatory framework, these ICOs will likely technically be based in Russia. I am however convinced that this is likely to be only temporary.“

One of the first of these cooperative projects will be the creation of a cryptocurrency exchange focusing on the Russian offering a ruble-book to serve both private as well as large institutional investors – CyberEX. To provide both liquidity and mature technology, CyberTrust is partnering with the China-based C2CX digital assets exchange. As one of the top 30 exchanges in the world, C2CX will ensure that CyberX is able to offer Russian investors instant liquidity as well as a secure technical infrastructure. C2CX brings to the table not only liquidity and the kind of standard functionality investors expect from the more traditional forex trading platforms, but also experience in providing comprehensive customer support. As C2CX CEO Scott Freeman noted, “to differentiate ourselves in the highly competitive Chinese market one of our key selling points has been customer service, both via telephone and online chat. This may sound unexciting, but the reality is that this kind of customer service is almost unknown outside of China. We are convinced that at this stage in the game, the package we bring to the table is exactly what the Russian market needs.”

The founder of CyberTrust, Evgeny Xata commented: Our Chinese-Russian Cryptocurrency Fund will help many promising Chinese and Russian startups, technologies and business models to converge. Together, KICKICO, CyberTrust and C2CX will create the infrastructure that will help to power the crypto-economy and actively at the same time develop blockchain technology in Russia and China. Our alliance will help our countries to become the leaders of the new economic paradigm in the next 5 years”.

These plans will be executed on the KICKICO platform, the first world’s 3-in-1 platform for ICOs, crowdfunding and crowdinvesting. KICKICO recently demonstrated its market power by raising over 50,000 ETH within 20 hours, thereby entering the list of the top 3 Russian ICOs of all time. The creation of the generation 2.0 of blockchain crowdfunding will be done arm in arm with CyberTrust, which holds 10 per cent of the company and will provide escrow services, as well as a wide range of banking services for KICKICO in Zürich, London and Shanghai. KICKICO’s СEO Anti A. Danilevski commented: “Our Asian link is the a very promising for us given the enthusiasm and investment power Chinese investors bring to the table. The Chinese market is one of the most significant players in this field, not only because of the depth of its investment community, but also because as has clearly demonstrated the exponential growth potential inherent in the crypto-economy. I am sure that our long-term cooperation will not only significantly influence the development of the KICKICO platform, but will also attract blockchain innovators both from Russia and China, thereby enhancing the partnership between our two countries and creating previously unimagined synergies”.