Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping told G20 meeting attendees that the world's largest developed economies should be open to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) when developing standards for the innovative concept. In a wide-ranging virtual speech that addressed the future of the global economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Xi asserted the G20 "needs to discuss developing standards and principles for central bank digital currencies with an open and accommodating attitude." He stated: "The G20 also needs to discuss developing the standards and principles for central bank digital currencies with an open and accommodating attitude, and properly handle all types of risks and challenges while pushing collectively for the development of the international monetary system." As China becomes one of the first countries to recover from the recession, it could increasingly play a leadership role especially in the digital space, including CBDCs.

Here is the rest of the week in review:

Circle announced Friday it is working with the U.S. government to bypass Venezuela's leader Nicolás Maduro and support Juan Guaidó's Bolivarian Republic. The fintech giant said it is using the USDC stable coin it issues with Coinbase to distribute relief funds to medical workers and other Venezuelan people. CEO Jeremy Allaire told CoinDesk the initiative is Circle's first government partnership: "The partnership, obviously, is with the exiled government. The history here is many countries, including the United States, recognize President-elect Juan Guaidó as the president of Venezuela." The U.S. Treasury has been trying to send Venezuelan government funds directly to residents, but Maduro's rules make the task difficult. Allaire did not specify which department is working with Circle but noted Circle was licensed to distribute funds with USDC. According to a blog post, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve deposit funds seized by the U.S. into a U.S. bank account tied to the Guaidó government, which converts the funds into USDC that Circle then sends to payments startup Airtm, which distributes USDC to half a million Venezuelan mobile digital wallet users.

BlackRock's (BLK  ) CIO of Fixed Income Rick Rieder said Bitcoin (BTC) could take the place of gold to a large extent because crypto is "so much more functional than passing a bar of gold around." The fixed income chief at the world's largest asset manager told CNBC's Squawk Box on Friday in response to a question asking if governments might try to regulate Bitcoin if it keeps appreciation: "I think cryptocurrency's here to stay, I think it is ... durable." He added that as global central banks start developing digital currencies, millennial investors' receptivity to technology and cryptocurrency "is real, digital payments systems is real." He added he thinks Bitcoin's blockchain could be a "durable mechanism" that eventually replaces gold to a large extent because it is more functional. Rieder conceded he is not a Bitcoin bull and does not own much of the asset in business and corporate portfolios.

Crypto prices surged to $535.7 billion this week, extending a fourth quarter monster rally. For the majors, Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Litecoin (LTC) saw outsized gains, and all but Tether (USDT) ended in the green. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Quant (QNT), down 19%, ABBC Coin (ABBC), down 17%, and Blockstack (STX), down 16%. The biggest gainers were Waves (WAVES), up a whopping 67%, Ripple, up 66%, and Numeraire (NMR), up 42%. Next week traders will watch if Bitcoin breaks $19,000.

The author owns a small amount of BTC and LTC.