- Sberbank, the biggest bank in Russia, rolled out its cryptocurrency, amidst the situations of financial scrutiny and sanctions.
- The Russian Central bank granted Sberbank a license to issue its own digital asset leading to the launch of Sbercoin on March 17.
- There are speculations that Sbercoin could be utilized for exchanging rubles for other currencies.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought worldwide criticism to the former country, and several restrictions have been imposed on it, cutting it down from most of its foreign currency reserves, and the global financial system.
And in this ongoing chain of reactions, the biggest bank in Russia has rolled out its cryptocurrency in Mid March. Sberbank launched its cryptocurrency called Sbercoin (SBER) as the country witnessed financial scrutiny and sanctions.
Earlier in March, following a few days after the invasion started, trading in Sberbank shares was taken down in London after it plunged by around 95%. But reportedly, two weeks following this instance, the Russian Central bank granted the Sberbank a license to issue its own digital asset leading to the launch of Sbercoin the same day.
Russia has witnessed a struggle to meet dollar-denominated debt obligations and has said it would put forward the demand payment for its energy in rubles. Amidst this, there are concerns and speculations that Sbercoin (SBER) could be utilized for exchanging rubles for other currencies.
Sbercoin initiated trading on March 17 with a value of $0.0003617 and its trading volume was under $948,000 within twenty-four of its launch. The coin primarily trades on Pancake swap.
At the time of writing, the coin is trading at $0.00002248 with a market cap of $76,344 and a 24-hour trading volume of $933.
The idea of Sberbank issuing its own cryptocurrency first came up when the lender initiated an experiment with blockchain technology in 2020. Herman Gref, the CEO, highlighted back then that the bank might look at issuing Sbercoin in 2021.
According to Sberbank’s Deputy Chairman who signified in September that it hoped to register its blockchain plans with the Central Bank of Russia.
There were concerns raised by the US and its allies about the use of digital assets by Russians to evade sanctions. And even the rube to crypto trading volume has also fallen after Russia’s anarchist approach towards Ukraine.
The asset class has played a major role in the situation of this geopolitical crisis, on one hand where Cryptocurrencies have majorly helped Ukraine with massive donations, it is to look forward to how this newly launched Crypto facilitates Russia.
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Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/04/02/biggest-russian-bank-kicked-out-from-global-financial-markets-rolls-out-its-cryptocurrency/