Digital gold traded for digital rubles by Russia’s Rosbank – Finance Bitcoin News

Rosbank has brokered Russia’s first deal involving the exchange of tokenized gold with the digital version of Russia’s national fiat currency, the ruble. The successful transaction shows the growing interest in digital financial assets and the need for digital ruble payments, the banking institution stated.

Rosbank and Atomyze exchange gold and rubles in digital form

Rosbank, headquartered in Moscow, has facilitated the purchase of digital gold with the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC). The operation was carried out on the blockchain platform created by Atomyze, one of several issuers of digital financial assets (DFA) authorized by the Bank of Russia.

According to a press release published by the bank, this is the first transaction of its kind in the Russian Federation, which uses distributed ledger technology and the digital ruble. The latter is still under development and testing with a full launch expected next year.

To issue or invest in DFAs, interested parties must open an account on a dedicated platform. Once a trade offer for a digital asset is accepted, the buyer takes up with the investor in digital rubles, Rosbank explained about the process, adding:

This transaction shows the growing interest in digital financial assets and the need for reliable and secure solutions for these transactions, including the ability to pay for them with a new form of Russian national currency, the digital ruble.

“We are very happy to have played a key role in this successful digital gold deal, which provides synergy between two innovative projects based on distributed ledgers, the DFA platform and the digital ruble platform,” said Olga Makhova, Director of Innovation and Data Analytics at Rosbank.

The Central Bank of Russia has so far added four entities to its register of organizations authorized to issue DFA. Besides the tokenization service Atomyze, these also include fintech company Lighthouse and Russia’s largest state-owned and private banks, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank.

The issuance of DFAs is currently regulated by the law “On Digital Financial Assets” which entered into force in January 2021. In December 2022, Sberbank’s platform was used to issue gold-based DFAs for the first time. They represent a monetary claim, where the obligations depend on the prices of physical gold.

Over a dozen banks and other financial institutions are participating in the pilot phase of the digital ruble project. However, analysts recently predicted that commercial banks in Russia could lose up to 50 billion rubles annually (over $700 million) when it is introduced. Gazprombank this week called for a gradual implementation of CBDC to allow the financial system to adapt.

Do you expect Russian banks to expand their business with tokenized assets and digital rubles? Tell us 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.