Russia Grants Sberbank License To Issue And Exchange Digital Assets
Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, will soon start issuing and exchanging digital financial assets (DFA) under a new license from the country’s central bank.
Less than two weeks after the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reiterated its position negative stance against cryptocurrencies in Russia. In a press release the CBR added the country’s biggest lender, Sberbank, to its register of information system operators for digital financial assets.
The CBR stated:
Legal entities that will be able to:
— issue own digital financial statements certifying monetary claims, which will allow attracting investments from the market;
— to acquire DFAs issued in the Sberbank information system, which will make it possible to invest temporarily free funds in order to generate income;
— make other transactions with the CFA, provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Sberbank, which has said it is working on launching its own cryptocurrency, was listed on the central bank’s register, along with financial ecosystem Lighthouse, giving the two companies the ability to issue digital assets and exchange them on their platforms.
Sberbank said it would use blockchain technology that guarantees the safety of digital transactions and would allow companies to issue their own digital assets, buy those issued within Sberbank’s system and make other transactions.
Sergey Popov, director of Sberbank’s transactional business division commented:
“In a month, legal entities will be able to make the first transactions on our blockchain platform. While we are at the beginning of the way of working with digital assets, realizing that for further development it is necessary to adapt the existing regulatory framework. In this direction, we are ready to cooperate closely with the regulator and executive authorities.”
As a state-owned bank, Sberbank has been targeted by sanctions, such as those imposed by the United States Treasury, since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Sberbank exited almost all European markets due to sanctions imposed by the EU. At the same time, its foreign depository shares have fell by over 99% on the London Stock Exchange, with trading halted and its last quoted price being $0.05 apiece.
