The issuance became the second major operations of the bank with the new class of assets.
Russia’s largest bank Sber — formerly referred to as Sberbank — according the primary issue of gold-backed digital money assets (DFAs). The bank considers DFAs to be a “great alternative” to investments amid dedollarization.
On Dec. 26, Sber revealed the news concerning its initial issue of gold-backed DFAs. A wide-ranging metals vender and manufacturer, Solfer, became the primary capitalist to get the issued assets. Gold-backed DFAs represent certifying financial rights, whose worth and volume rely on gold costs.
According to juridical documentation of the supply, the bank can offer up to 150,000 DFAs for potential investors to shop for. The DFAs are accessible to acquire till Jul 30, 2023. The document mentions “the high risks” for investors, ingrained in such quite assets, as well as “the risk of illiquidity.”
The first deputy chairman of the executive Board at Sber, Alexander Vedyakhin, claims these kind of DFAs to be an alternative to ancient investments amid the dedollarization, caused by the international money sanctions, imposed on Russia within the aftermath of its invasion to Ukraine:
“We expect the number of corporate clients on our platform to grow rapidly and plan to expand the product line of digital financial assets.”
While current legislation on the DFA was place effective in 2020, in July 2022 Russian President vladimir putin has signed a bill into law prohibiting digital financial assets as payments method.
Related: Russia's Sber bank integrates Metamask into its blockchain platform
In June, a subsidiary of another Russia’s state-owned bank, VTB factoring, reported its initial major deal with digital finance assets. As a part of the deal, the bank subsidiary acquired a tokenized debt pool of the engineering company Metrowagonmash, issued via the fintech platform lighthouse. Sber has tested its initial deal involving DFAs later in July, issuance the three-month assets valued one billion roubles (around $14.5 millions by press time).
(DAVID ATTLEE, Cointelegraph, 2022)