Following its recent invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been cut out of many of the world’s dealings and financial platforms. The nation has decided to take matters into its own hands and is now playing by its own rules, ultimately releasing a digital currency all its own called Sbercoin.
Russia Is Pulling Back the Curtain on Sbercoin
February saw Russia allegedly invading Ukraine following reports that it had over 150,000 troops stationed along its border. The move has been met with negative reactions from every corner of the world, and countries such as the United States and many of its allies have ultimately placed sanctions on Russia as a means of punishing the country and keeping its elite under control.
In addition, many regulators have called for financial platforms to take necessary action against Russia and bar it from using their services. Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren, for example, is a democratic senator from Massachusetts. She has repeatedly called for crypto exchanges to cut Russia off and has even drafted a new bill that would potentially make it rather difficult for sanctioned countries or individuals to use crypto to avoid regulations.
In reaction to this, many crypto exchanges have shut out allegedly illicit accounts that stem from Russia, though executives have repeatedly claimed that they will not end services for regular citizens. With the fall of the Russian ruble, they claim that many of these citizens have not engaged in any wrongdoing and are entitled to the same opportunities to keep their wealth stable using crypto like everyone else.
The nation of Russia is now looking to Sberbank to bring its financial shame to an end. The monetary institution has recently issued a license to Russia that will permit the country to launch its own digital currency known as Sbercoin, named after the issuing bank.
Things Aren’t Looking Great So Far
Asheesh Birla – general manager of Ripple Net – commented in an interview that he’s not entirely sure the move is going to do anything for the country, commenting:
It’s going to be super-problematic for them to get much traction here, because they also need a liquid exchange that is going to take the Russian ruble… I’m not sure it’s going to be very helpful in terms of getting liquidity in and out of Russia. It’s like taking your own bank account and putting it onto a ledger. It’s not all that useful unless you can start trading it for other things. So far, the data I saw is that it’s not very liquid.
Sbercoin began trading on March 17 of this year. At the time of writing, the currency is not even trading for one cent and is available only on Pancake Swap, a digital currency exchange. It’s also down roughly 90 percent and has a daily trading volume of just over $1,200.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/russia-is-looking-to-issue-its-own-cryptocurrency/