Russia’s Banking Giant ‘Sber’ To Execute First Digital Currency Deal Next Month

• By mid-July, the bank plans to undertake its first DFA transaction.
• The VTB board member said they would establish a new platform to acquire digital rubles.

Russian banking heavyweight Sber is gearing up to close its first digital currency transaction employing the bank’s unique platform for virtual assets. By mid-July, the bank plans to undertake its first DFA transaction on its digital asset issuance platform. In an interview with the state-backed news outlet TASS on June 15, Anatoly Popov, Sber’s deputy chairman of the executive board, revealed the company’s ambitions to execute such a deal.

Digital Asset Issuance Platform

The Bank of Russia, according to Popov, ultimately registered Sber in the spring of 2022, after a series of delays in the registration process. Sber has been unable to register its digital asset issuance platform, which was originally scheduled to be launched with its Sbercash stablecoin in the spring of 2021. Even though Sber’s platform has not been mentioned in the most recent news, Popov said that the bank is dedicated to studying the technology.

Popov stated that:

“We are looking closely at the development of new technologies like distributed ledger technology. We are studying how blockchain technologies are developing. Our platform has already passed acceptance tests, and the first transaction will take place within a month.”

With VTB prepared to test the purchase of DFAs for Russia’s central bank digital currency, the digital ruble, in 2022, the announcement emerged simultaneously. When Svyatoslav Ostrovsky spoke at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 15, the VTB board member said the company would soon establish a new platform to acquire digital rubles.

On June 14, the Russian parliament enacted a new measure prohibiting the payment of goods and services using DFAs in the first reading. Bears are destroying the crypto market, putting it in a precarious position. As a result, the total value of the world’s cryptocurrencies plummeted below $1 trillion.