Skip to content

Russia’s largest bank is seeking approval to launch a blockchain-based platform.

Sberbank is seeking approval for launching a blockchain-based platform that will allow the bank to launch its own digital cur
Sberbank is seeking approval for launching a blockchain-based platform that will allow the bank to launch its own digital currency.

The largest Russian state-owned lender, Sberbank, has applied to the country’s central bank seeking approval for launching a blockchain-based platform that will allow the bank to launch its own digital currency. As reported by local news outlet Interfax, the application was filed in early January. If the bank receives the regulator’s green light without any hurdles, it is planning to launch the decentralized platform by spring. Russian central bank is also considering to explore digital currency.

“The bank is ready to work with such fiat currency.”

“Technologically, the bank is ready to work with such fiat currency, we have tested it inside and saw that this solution works,” Sberbank’s deputy chairman, Anatoly Popov, said. The registration process takes 45 days, and the regulator will either approve the application or will ask for comments within the timeframe. The Russian bank’s jump into blockchain did not come as a surprise, as it already revealed its plans to come up with a digital currency last year. It was reported earlier that Sberbank partnered with JPMorgan to experiment with its digital currency. However, the details and tentative timeline on that pilot were not clear then.

Russia strengthens its crypto laws.

“There is one more issue that has not yet been fully resolved – the issue of taxation of digital financial assets (IF), but we hope that it will become clearer. The simplest use of savings – This is a digital bill,” a Sberbank manager noted. The cryptocurrency laws in Russia are taking shape as the country legally started to see them as property. However, the government wants to curb the retail distribution of crypto and also wants to track citizens’ digital currency holdings.

Latest