Russia’s Sberbank Seeks Approval To Launch Its Own Cryptocurrency

Giant state-owned Russian bank Sberbank has reportedly sought approval from the nation’s central bank to launch its own cryptocurrency through a blockchain platform.

Separately, a Russian court has removed the leading crypto exchange Binance from a regulator’s blacklist.

Sberbank Looks Into Launching Its Own Crypto?

According to the local coverage, Sberbank of Russia, one of the largest banks in the world’s largest country by landmass, has applied with the central bank to register a blockchain platform.

Should the Central Bank of the Russian Federation approve the application, Sberbank plans to leverage the blockchain platform to create its own cryptocurrency.

Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of the board, said that the main goal is to launch the digital asset in the spring of this year.

“Sberbank filed an application with the Bank of Russia to register its blockchain platform in early January since digital financial assets in accordance with the law can be issued on a registered platform.”

Popov further explained that the bank had already tested the technology and “saw that this solution works.”

Russian laws dictate that the registration procedure can take up to 45 days. The country’s central bank could use this timeframe to address any potential issues or challenges it sees with the project.

Binance No Longer Blacklisted In Russia

The Malta-based crypto exchange said last year that a court in the Arkhangelsk region ruled to block its domain from being accessed within the country’s borders. The court argued that the platform had helped distribute information about an unregulated asset, namely Bitcoin.

The company said this blacklisting came after no previous warnings issued by Russian authorities and law enforcement. However, Binance noted that it had requested legal assistance and promised to fight for overruling the decision.

It seems that Binance has succeeded as reports emerged that the Arkhangelsk Regional Court overturned the ruling.

Consequently, users based in Russia will be able to have full access to the exchange’s website as it was removed from the register of prohibited internet resources.

“We hope that with the adoption of transparent laws in the field of cryptocurrency regulation in Russia, such cases will become a thing of the past, and regulatory uncertainty will no longer negatively affect the development of cryptocurrency projects in Russia.” – commented the director of Binance in Russia, Gleb Kostarev.