Good news for the blockchain industry from Russia, whose largest bank, Sberbank, has confirmed that it will offer crypto trading services.
Below are all the details.
Summary
News from Russia: crypto trading services coming soon
As anticipated, Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, has announced the introduction of crypto trading services for its customers.
According to the announcement, the bank’s customers will be able to access services related to digital assets starting in June.
In other words, this new opportunity will allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrencies through the bank. Initially, the development was planned for April, but its implementation was postponed and now services are expected to be available later this month.
In addition, Sberbank also plans to introduce transactions in digital financial assets (DFA) for its customers, according to Vice President Anatoly Popov.
So, while the United States continues to tighten regulation in the area of digital assets, it appears that the rest of the world is making progress in the blockchain sector.
Indeed, the introduction of cryptocurrency trading services by Sberbank, Russia’s leading bank, is another sign of international progress in the cryptocurrency industry.
Anatoly Popov, chairman of the bank’s board of directors, shared this news with TASS, making sure that clients will be able to buy and sell what the bank calls CFA, an abbreviation for assets backed by a combination of assets and securities.
Not only that, Popov also shared Sberbank’s perspectives on the newly developed functionality. In particular, the bank could issue digital assets worth tens of billions of rubles in the near future.
Alexander Vedyakhin, the bank’s vice president, also discussed the benefits of this development. Specifically, he pointed out that investors interested in cryptocurrencies could bring more liquidity to the bank.
Finally, Sberbank introduced new valuation features to facilitate investment decisions in the digital asset sector.
Russia abandons plan to create a national cryptocurrency exchange
Recently, the Russian government changed its plans regarding the development of a regulated national cryptocurrency exchange, opting instead, as has since happened, to regulate several cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Indeed, we see that, initially, it was considering launching a unified exchange in conjunction with the Moscow Exchange.
In contrast, Russia is now focusing on creating rules for the creation and operation of cryptocurrency trading platforms, as reported by Aksakov according to local news agency Izvestia.
In addition, the Russian Finance Ministry is said to have expressed doubts about the plan for a national cryptocurrency exchange.
Aksakov, who chairs the Duma‘s Financial Markets Committee, stressed that cryptocurrency trading platforms will allow Russian companies to conduct cross-border transactions and avoid sanctions imposed against them.
As a result, Russia will continue to develop new platforms and organizations in the cryptocurrency sector, with the main goal of regulating this process.
According to Alexey Guznov, deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, it is still too early to talk about traditional cryptocurrency exchanges in Russia.
Rather, such platforms could serve as organizations that facilitate interaction between exporters and importers to facilitate cross-border transactions.
For example, these organizations could assist Russian companies with payments for parallel imports.
Thoughts about potential crypto exchanges in the Russian state
Thus, major Russian companies in the cryptocurrency sector seem to oppose the idea of creating a national crypto exchange, preferring instead a regulatory framework for these organizations.
According to Oleg Ogienko, compliance executive at BitRiver, implementing new regulatory mechanisms would help reduce the risks of sanctions and cyber attacks on infrastructure and address concerns about market dominance.
Indeed, Ogienko suggested that cryptocurrency exchanges should restrict unqualified investors from accessing their platforms, at least initially.
However, according to some figures in the cryptocurrency industry, the idea of creating a unified cryptocurrency exchange in Russia was unrealistic from the start.
In fact, David Lesperance, founder of Lesperance & Associates, said that the cryptocurrency community in Russia would never accept the idea of a single national crypto exchange.
According to the legal expert, the main concern of users would be about other issues rather than taxation, given this lack of consideration by the government in such a scenario:
“Transactions like sending funds to dissidents, buying plane tickets to avoid conscription, or moving goods out of Russia could lead to a knock on the door in the middle of the night. Why use a national cryptocurrency exchange when there was a world of alternatives just a VPN away?”
