Digital assets worth 2 billion rubles issued in Russia in less than a year – Bitcoin News

Digital financial assets (DFA) totaling over $26 million have been issued in Russia over the past year. This new market has been developing since it was regulated in 2021 and the country’s monetary authority began licensing issuers the following year.

The volume of digital assets is increasing in Russia as investors seek alternatives to traditional instruments

Less than a year since Central Bank of Russia (CBR)-authorized entities began issuing digital financial assets, they have issued 2 billion rubles (over $26 million) worth of DFAs. The data was announced by Ekaterina Frolovicheva, general manager of the tokenization service Atomyze.

Speaking at a roundtable meeting of the ‘Digital Financial Assets – New Tool for Attracting Liquidity’ Public Chamber, Frolovicheva explained that the first DFA issuer was added to the Bank of Russia’s register on February 3, 2022, but the issuance of DFAs started for several months later.

Quoted by the Tass news agency, she also noted that the unique characteristics of DFAs make them extremely attractive and that demand is on the rise. For example, hybrid digital rights combine the characteristics of digital financial assets and utilitarian digital rights, confirming at the same time a monetary claim and a right to demand the transfer of an asset.

Stablecoins, when not intended for settlement, as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can be issued as hybrid digital rights in the Russian Federation. It is possible under the law “On Digital Financial Assets” which entered into force in January 2021. However, the country has not yet regulated operations with decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Atomyze is one of the platforms authorized by the CBR to issue DFAs, along with fintech company Lighthouse, as well as Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest state-owned and private banks respectively. Another entity was recently licensed – Distributed Registry Systems, which operates the ‘Masterchain’ blockchain platform.

Russians will soon be able to invest in DFAs alongside other instruments, such as stocks and bonds, while avoiding the risks associated with traditional instruments and bypassing financial market intermediaries, commented Maxim Trofimov, CEO of a company called Digital Assets.

Do you expect the digital asset market to continue expanding in Russia? Share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.