Intro

September 21, 2026, New York. During the high-level week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, the United Nations Office of Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET) held “Digital Cooperation Day 2026.” During the event, Jeremy Almond, co-founder and CEO of Paystand, spoke about Bitcoin, calling it a “native, programmable digital fiat currency,” and emphasized Bitcoin’s importance in an era of transformation in both labor and monetary forms.

This is not the first time the UN system has engaged with Bitcoin narratives, but it remains rare to discuss Bitcoin explicitly within the framework of “digital cooperation” and “sustainable development.” For the crypto industry, what is more worth关注 is not the remarks of any single entrepreneur, but the fact that the UN system is formally bringing issues such as tokenization and digital public infrastructure into the multilateral governance agenda. Whether Bitcoin can thereby shift from a “regulated risk asset” to a “development tool” remains to be seen.

Event: Bitcoin appears at UN Digital Cooperation Day

On-site information posted by Forbes contributor Frank Corva on X shows that during UN Digital Cooperation Day, Jeremy Almond spoke about the importance of “native, programmable digital fiat currency—Bitcoin—in this era of labor and money transition.” The event was hosted by the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET). The theme was “An AI Future for All Through Science, Policy, and Capacity,” bringing together representatives from governments around the world, the private sector, civil society, and industry leaders.

The UN Digital Cooperation Day official agenda showed that on the day of the event, discussion revolved around three main pillars: science, policy, and capacity. Several thematic sessions were scheduled, including one on tokenization. During that session, a discussion explicitly raised: “As tokenization expands from digital currencies to land, securities, and commodities, new questions are emerging—could it represent the next layer of digital public infrastructure?” The session would explore real-world applications, countries’ readiness, and safeguards to ensure that tokenization serves the public interest.

This means that Bitcoin—along with the broader tokenization agenda—is being incorporated into the UN’s discussion framework on digital public infrastructure (DPI). ODET also noted in the agenda that with the adoption of the (Global Digital Compact), member states have committed to strengthening digital cooperation and advancing inclusive digital development, and DPI is a key vehicle for implementing these commitments.

Background: from the Concordia Summit to UN Week

In fact, Jeremy Almond’s appearance here was not only aimed at speaking within the UN system. During the UN General Assembly week, at the Concordia Summit he participated in a panel titled “Frictionless Finance: Unlocking Capital Through Digital Assets,” focusing on the role of Bitcoin circular economies in the Global South.

Bitcoin circular economies refer to a complete economic closed loop within a community where Bitcoin is both earned through income and used for consumption. Payments for goods and services circulate within the Bitcoin ecosystem rather than being immediately converted to fiat currency. In the discussion, Almond called Bitcoin “freedom money,” describing it as a tool to help billions of people worldwide who lack access to traditional financial services to save—and he believes Bitcoin is accelerating the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Paystand donates 10% of its profits to the nonprofit organization Paystand.org to promote global financial inclusion through Bitcoin—this is one of the SDG goals. Almond cited multiple implementation cases: El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Beach” and its education center Hope House, where children start with Bitcoin education and basic literacy and are now beginning to learn technical courses and intern with Bitcoin mining companies; Peru’s indigenous community project Motiv Perú; and Bitcoin Dada, which helps African women access Bitcoin and enter industry employment.

At the Concordia Summit, Almond told Bitcoin Magazine: “We believe the Bitcoin circular economy is a major catalyst for many of the United Nations’ goals. But it’s not through charity—it’s through creating agency.” He also noted that national leaders’ engagement with Bitcoin is now higher than it has been in the past decade or more: “Leaders ultimately follow what voters need.”

Why now: changes in the UN discourse framework

For a long time, the UN system’s stance toward Bitcoin has been primarily cautious, even negative. The United Nations University (UNU) has published research highlighting Bitcoin’s hidden environmental impacts. Organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have focused more on “digital assets,” “stablecoins,” or central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), rather than on Bitcoin itself.

But the agenda-setting for this Digital Cooperation Day shows a subtle shift: on the one hand, tokenization is formally listed as a potential component of digital public infrastructure; on the other hand, practitioners from the payments industry like Almond are able to defend Bitcoin’s broad public value in relevant UN settings. Behind this shift is the real demand from countries in the Global South for low-cost cross-border settlement and anti-inflation savings tools, which is pushing multilateral institutions to re-examine Bitcoin’s role.

From a broader perspective, this change is closely related to the (Future Pact) and its annexes (Global Digital Compact) adopted at the 2024 Future Summit. The compact covers peace and security, sustainable development, science, technology and innovation, and digital cooperation, and calls for strengthening inclusive digital development. When the UN moves “digital cooperation” from principled commitments to implementation assessments, Bitcoin case studies from the grassroots naturally come into the discussion.

Almond further explained the UN logic: “What does the United Nations believe? That gaining education, gaining technology, gaining jobs, and gaining financial literacy are the drivers for improving people’s outcomes. When you study Bitcoin circular economies, you find that Bitcoin is a catalyst accelerating these outcomes.”

Impact: Bitcoin narrative shifts from “speculative asset” to “public infrastructure”

This signal’s impact on the industry may be greater than that of any single event. In recent years, the main pathways for the crypto industry to enter the UN discourse framework have been stablecoin payments, CBDCs, and tokenized bonds. Bitcoin has more often been treated as a risky asset that needs regulation. But when Bitcoin is discussed within the framework of “digital cooperation,” “sustainable development goals,” and “digital public infrastructure,” its narrative focus shifts away from price and speculation toward cross-border payments, financial inclusion, and empowering grassroots economic activity.

For payment companies, Bitcoin mining enterprises, and project parties operating in the Global South, this means new space for policy communication: compliance narratives are no longer limited to anti–money laundering and investor protection—they can also be framed around the UN’s existing development goals such as employment, education, technology dissemination, and financial literacy.

For Paystand itself, this narrative also aligns with its business strategy. According to published interviews, Paystand processes more than $20 billion in payments per year, connecting over one million businesses. Its strategy is not to directly pitch Bitcoin asset allocation to corporate boards; instead, it enables businesses to naturally come into contact with Bitcoin as they use existing services through its payment products—Almond once described it as a “Trojan horse” adoption path.

Risks and follow-up observations

It is important to emphasize that UN Digital Cooperation Day is not a venue for official UN General Assembly resolutions, and its discussions do not equate to policy commitments. Whether tokenization can truly become a layer of digital public infrastructure still depends on each country’s regulation, technical standards, and scale of implementation. Increased visibility of Bitcoin within the UN system also does not mean a fundamental shift in regulatory positions—stablecoins and CBDCs remain the mainstream subjects of official discussion.

In addition, statements by corporate representatives at relevant UN venues more often reflect industry advocacy positions rather than formal conclusions from multilateral institutions. Concerns within the UN system about Bitcoin’s energy consumption and financial stability risks have not disappeared, and these differences will continue to exist in subsequent policy discussions.

Key variables to watch next include: whether institutions such as the United Nations Development Programme and the International Telecommunication Union will include Bitcoin-related case studies in formal documents; the measurable results of initiatives in the Global South by organizations such as Paystand.org; and how governments in different countries actually position tokenization and Bitcoin in their digital public infrastructure roadmaps.

(Source: Forbes, the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies official website, Bitcoin Magazine, Frank Corva’s X account)