The Russian Central Bank granted Sberbank, the country’s largest lender, a license to issue and exchange digital currencies.

The latest step opens new horizons for the country’s economy, which has been hampered by Western sanctions.

Granting approval to “Sberbank” to issue and trade digital currencies:

According for the official statementUnder the new license, local companies will be able to issue their own digital assets to attract market investments, buy digital currencies through the Sber Bank system, or conduct other such transactions.

The lender also mentioned that it will make use of blockchain technology to ensure the safety and security of digital transactions.

Read:Why did $9 billion of Bitcoin move in an hour?

Sergey Popov, Director of the Commercial Transactions Department of Sberbank commented:

Companies will be able to make their first transaction on our blockchain platform a month from now.

We have just started our work with cryptocurrencies, and we have realized that further development requires adapting the existing regulatory framework.

To do this, we stand ready to work closely with regulatory and enforcement agencies.

Interestingly, the approval comes a few weeks after the Bank of Russia called for a blanket ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining.

Unprecedented sanctions from Western countries hit the heart of the Russian financial system.

State-owned Sberbank is among the financial institutions targeted by the United States as well as the European Union.

In 2020, German Greve, CEO of Sberbank, stated:

The bank is working closely with investment banking firm JPMorgan to roll out its own cryptocurrency, called Sbercoin, which has yet to be launched.

Russia and the possibility of resorting to crypto:

There has been a growing number of concerns among Western countries that have imposed sanctions on the Russian oligarchs that they may resort to and use cryptocurrencies in an attempt to bypass the sanctions.

Read:A project that creates a new way to send cryptocurrency

Blockchain firm Elliptic has provided authorities with information about digital wallets potentially linked to sanctioned Russian entities holding large holdings of cryptocurrency.

Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic, has admitted that cryptocurrencies can be used to avoid sanctions.

As pressure continues to look for any evidence of sanctions evasion, blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis has introduced new screening tools that allow Web 3 applications and decentralized funded platforms to ensure they do not interact with sanctioned entities.

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