Sberbank Receives Permission From The Russian Central Bank to issue digital assets

Sberbank was awarded a license to issue and exchange digital assets by the Russian Central Bank on Thursday.

The announcement comes less than two months after the central bank called for a complete ban on cryptocurrency trading, mining, and use.

The bank may have more alternatives as a result of Thursday’s statement as it tries to offset the impact of Western sanctions.

Sberbank, Russia’s largest retail bank, has announced its withdrawal from European markets, citing the impact of sanctions on Russian-exposed businesses as well as capital outflows from European subsidiaries as reasons.

Sberbank, a state-owned bank, and Lighthouse, a financial ecosystem, have both been added to the CBR’s registry, giving them the ability to produce digital financial assets and exchange them on respective platforms.

Companies can use Sberbank’s platform to build their own digital assets, purchase digital assets through the lender’s system, and perform other digital asset transactions, according to a statement released Thursday.

“With digital assets, we are just getting started,” says Sergey Popov, director of Sberbank’s transaction business unit.

Companies will be able to perform their first transaction on Popov’s blockchain platform in a month, according to Popov.

Sberbank asked for a license to issue its own digital money for corporate clients with Russia’s central bank in January. So, Sberbank planned to make the digital asset available to the businesses with which it works.

Sberbank CEO German Gref stated in late 2020 that the bank was working with JP Morgan, an American international investment bank, to develop its own cryptocurrency, dubbed Sbercoin, which has yet to be launched.

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