As expected, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has given permission for Sberbank to carry out operations of production and exchange of digital assets.
The financial ecosystem that connects banks, fintechs, and Mastercard - Lighthouse - is also not far behind in receiving the same permission.
This is a major turnaround after Russia’s central bank pushed for full restrictions on trade, mining, and the use of cryptocurrencies.
Perhaps this is also an initial step for Russia to ‘weaken’ the economic sanctions imposed by Western countries.
For the record, Sberbank is the largest Russian bank that has withdrawn from the European market.
Sberbank's four guarantees on the opportunities offered by CBR:
Will use blockchain technology to guarantee secure transactions
Offer any legal entity to produce digital financial statements
Offers ownership of digital assets accumulated in the Sberbank system
Offers crypto transactions
According to Sberbank chief executive German Gref at the end of 2020, their entity is working with JP Morgan to launch Sbercoin. But until now there is still no shadow.
But sources from the financial markets have revealed that Sberbank is actively preparing for the launch of Sbercoin in the future when the country is still in turmoil with Ukraine.
So far, countries are worried if Russia will use the digital yuan as China is actively promoting its central bank’s digital currency.
Because Russia also has the potential to use crypto, the EU has already implemented an order restricting access to crypto assets and it was supported by Japan and Singapore recently.
Will Russia be able to get past the economic sanctions imposed from every corner of the globe through the CBR decision?
