Russia’s central bank says it had given major lender Sberbank a licence to issue and exchange digital financial assets, a move that may open new opportunities for the bank as it seeks to blunt the effect of Western sanctions.
Sberbank was listed on the central bank’s register, along with financial ecosystem Lighthouse, giving the two companies the ability to issue digital assets and exchange them on their platforms.
Sberbank says it would use blockchain technology that guarantees the safety of digital transactions and would allow companies to issue their own digital assets, buy those issued within Sberbank’s system and make other transactions.