Russia’s Alfa-Bank Launches Digital Asset Platform Post Approval

• The Bank of Russia declared on Thursday that Alfa-Bank had become a DFA issuer.
• Alfa-Bank intends to issue its own DFAs on the new platform.

According to a report by the Russian business news outlet RBC, Director of Innovation at Alfa-Bank Denis Dodon announced the introduction of a platform called “A-Token” that would enable the issuing of digital financial assets (DFAs). The bank was permitted to do so after the Bank of Russia declared on Thursday that it had become a DFA issuer.

Now, after the state-owned Sberbank, the largest bank in the Russian Federation in terms of assets, only Alfa-Bank, the country’s largest private bank, has been given permission to mint digital currency.

With a pilot release expected for the end of February, Alfa-Bank intends to issue its own DFAs on the new platform. Furthermore, it plans to make its infrastructure available to other market players. The bank’s mobile app will provide access to A-Token, and it aims to partner with financial firms and individual investors.

Ways to Get Over Financial Sanctions

In September 2022, Alfa-Bank declared its aim to establish a foundation for DFAs. The “On Digital Financial Assets” legislation, which became effective in Russia at the beginning of 2021. Governs the issuing of such tokens. Although this law focuses mostly on digital assets with an issuer. The Russian government has been working on a legal framework for decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Moscow is looking at crypto payments and digital currency. As ways to get over Western financial sanctions imposed over the crisis in Ukraine. The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Alfa-Bank and Sberbank, while the European Union has attempted to restrict Russian access to crypto assets.

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