Russia’s Sberbank Granted Authority To Issue Digital Assets: Report

Russia’s Sberbank just got the authority to issue and to exchange digital assets as we can see more from the reports in our today’s cryptocurrency news.

The move came only two months after the Russian central bank urged for a ban on crypto trading, mining, and usage. The statement from the bank could mean that Sberbank has other options as well and strives to mitigate the impact on the Western sanctions. Russia’s Sberbank is the biggest retail bank in the country and it disclosed its pullout from the European Markets due to the impact of sanctions on the Russian-exposed sectors and the capital outflows from the EU-based subsidiaries.

Sberbank is a government-run bank and the Lighthouse financial ecosystem was added to the CBR’s register and granted the two companies the power to issue crypto-assets and exchange them on their platforms. The companies can use Sberbank’s platform to create their own digital assets in order to attract the market capital and buy digital assets via the lender’s system and conduct other digital asset transactions. The Director of Sberbank’s transaction business section Sergey Popov said:

“We are only getting started with digital assets.”

Popov pointed out that companies will be able to make their first transaction on the blockchain platform in one month. The US and the EU sanctioned Sberbank and according to the US Treasury, it controls the highest market share of the savings account in the country and it is also the country’s primary creditor. On the London Stock Exchange, the foreign depository shares dropped by 100% with trading paused and the last stated price was set at $0.05 apiece.

Sberbank applied to Russia’s central bank in January for a license to issue digital money for its corporate clients but the bank aimed to make the digital asset available to the companies with which it conducts business. Sberbank CEO German Gref indicated back in 2020 that the bank was collaborating with JPMorgan to create its own cryptocurrency but it has yet to launch.

The sanctions against Russia and Sberbank combined with the policy on crypto, fueled speculation that digital currencies could be harmful to the bank but analysts believe that the sanctioned financial companies can’t dodge the sanctions through the usage of crypto. Thinking that cryptocurrencies can jeopardize Russia’s financial stability, the welfare of people, and the monetary policy sovereignty, the bank clashed with the finance ministry and preffered to be the one to control the crypto sector In Russia.