The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) made an announcement on Thursday that it had given Sberbank the permission to issue and exchange digital assets. To many, this statement may come as a surprise, as just 2 months ago, the central bank had called for a complete ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining.
Because of the wave of sanctions from the Western countries, Sberbank will also have additional options to mitigate the impact of these restrictive measures.
As the biggest retail bank in Russia, Sberbank has decided to withdraw from the European markets after the sanctions from the West began to hit Russian-exposed sectors and its European subsidiaries were seeing major cash outflows.
Digital Assets may be available in a month
Both Sberbank, a state-owned bank, and the financial ecosystem Lighthouse had been added to the CBR’s register. The 2 companies now have the license to issue digital assets and exchange them on their platforms.
According to a statement released by Sberbank, companies may use its platform to create their digital assets, attracting market capital, buying digital assets through the lender’s system or conducting other transactions.
“We are only getting started with digital assets,” Sergey Popov, director of the transaction business section at Sberbank, added.
Popov suggested that within the next month, companies may begin to make their first transaction on Sberbank’s blockchain platform.
Source: TradingView
Impacts of the Western Sanctions
According to the US Treasury, Sberbank is not only currently controlling the highest market share of savings accounts in Russia, but it also is this country’s biggest creditor.
On the London Stock Exchange, Sberbank’s foreign depository shares have fallen by over 99% when all trading halted and the last quoted price was merely $0.05 apiece.
Last January, Sberbank sent its application to the Central Bank of Russia for a license to issue its digital token for corporate clients. It is hoping to have these digital assets available for the companies that it is having partnership with.
German Gref, CEO of Sberbank, made a statement in late 2020 that the bank had joined forces with JP Morgan – the American multinational investment bank – to build Sbercoin, its own cryptocurrency. However, at this point, this plan has yet to launch.