Russian Companies Report on First Transactions Comprising Digital
Financial Assets
Two companies
have carried out Russia’s first transactions with digital financial assets as
defined by the country’s legislation. The transaction involved the
tokenization of debt issued by a third party and its subsequent acquisition.
Issue and Placement of Digital Financial Assets
VTB
Factoring, a subsidiary of Russian majority state-owned Vneshtorgbank (VTB),
and fintech firm Lighthouse have announced the first transactions for
the issuance and placement of digital financial assets (DFAs). The legal term
in Russian law encompasses various types of digital assets, including
cryptocurrencies.
The companies
revealed in a press release that commercial debt from an unidentified issuer
was first tokenized on the Lighthouse platform. It is a registered
"information system operator" that is approved to issue and transact
with DFAs. VTB Factoring then bought the digital financial assets.
The RBC
Crypto news outlet published a report that said with debt in the form of DFAs,
the parties can reduce the time necessary to receive financing while
also taking advantage of relatively low transaction costs. This lowers the
overall costs for the issuing entity. Anton Musatov, CEO of VTB Factoring,
said:
"In
contrast with the standard factoring procedure, the client does not need to
conclude a service contract to assign commercial debt. It is enough for the
issuer to issue a DFA and [obtain] the factor’s consent to purchase it."
In early
June, Lighthouse and Tinkoff Business, the e-commerce division of the Russian
neobank Tinkoff, announced the establishment of a platform to facilitate
digital asset transactions. It will allow large and medium-sized businesses to
raise funds using blockchain technology.
Later in the
month, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank, Anatoly
Popov, revealed that the first DFA deal on a platform developed by
Russia’s largest bank will take place within a month. Also known as Sber, the
state-controlled financial institution accounts for about a third of all bank
assets in Russia and is also a registered information system
operator approved to issue digital financial assets.
The Russian
authorities are working to expand the country’s regulatory framework to
comprehensively regulate decentralized digital assets such as bitcoin, as they
are partially covered by the existing law "On Digital Financial
Assets." A new bill "On Digital Currency," regulation is likely
to be tabled in September.
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