TL;DR Breakdown
- The Central Bank of Russia has recently proposed allowing traditional stock exchanges to trade in digital assets.
- The regulator seeks to provide investors with a regulated platform on which they may trade cryptocurrency.
Digital financial assets (DFAs), which include tokens and cryptocurrencies, may be allowed to trade on Russian stock exchanges. This was proposed by the Central Bank of Russia during a recent gathering of brokers, exchanges, and information system operators. These are organizations that crypto platforms interact with.
Russia stock exchanges might support crypto
As per Kommersant, representatives of major brokers such as the Moscow Exchange or SPB Exchange, as well as information system operators with the appropriate expertise, met with the Bank of Russia officials behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss the CBR’s planned new mechanism for trading and distributing digital financial assets. The CBR’s new scheme to arrange the trading and distribution of DFAs, as well as using digital rights (UDRs), was discussed.
In January 2021, the Russian legislation “On Digital Financial Assets” was implemented, regulating activities including coin issuance (digital financial assets) and token fundraising (digital rights). Trading and mining, as well as cryptocurrency distribution, are all unregulated in Russia. The finance ministry’s new law, “On Digital Currency,” aims to change that.
There were mixed feelings about the proposal from the entities. Some noted that platforms hadn’t had enough time to mature, which might jeopardize digital asset platform businesses. They also pointed out the difficulties of implementing blockchain technology and existing exchange platforms’ slower operation.
However, the officials from the Moscow Exchange welcomed the idea and said they were willing to continue discussions.
The concept entails utilizing current exchange and settlement systems.
According to a source from Russia’s financial sector which was present at the meeting, the exchanges and brokers backed the notion of trading digital assets, which would broaden the range of financial instruments accessible to them. Information system operators were also wary of the plan.
Sberbank licensed to issue and trade digital assets
In other news, Russia’s central bank announced that it had given Sberbank a charter to create and trade digital financial assets, which may open up new possibilities for the bank to mitigate the impact of Western sanctions.
The Russian government has given approval for the first company to exchange digital assets legally in a country whose central bank has long voiced skepticism of cryptocurrencies and has called for a complete ban on trading and mining.
The Sberbank, which has stated its intention to develop its cryptocurrency, was added to the central bank’s register, along with financial ecosystem Lighthouse, allowing them to create digital assets and trade them on their platforms.
Sberbank claimed it would use blockchain technology to guarantee the security of digital transactions, allowing corporations to create their own digital assets, purchase those made by Sberbank’s system, and conduct other activities.
