Russia Is Ready to Test a New ICO Platform Developed by Central Bank

National Settlement Depository (NSD) and Sberbank CIB will trial a new regulatory platform that is set to make local initial coin offerings (ICOs) safer and easier to use for potential cryptocurrency traders, Sberbank reports. Designed by Russia’s Central Bank, the fintech project is powered by blockchain technology.

"Sberbank CIB considers the Russian ICO market to be very promising. Many Sberbank clients are interested in this type of investment, and we plan to promote this service proactively once the appropriate legislative framework comes into effect; we will be one of the drivers to institutionalize and popularize this type of transaction," Igor Bulantsev, senior vice president of Sberbank and head of Sberbank CIB said.

As an announcement states, digital currency sale is to be arranged by a Moscow-based company called Level One. Under the test conditions, Sberbank will play a role of the coordinator controlling the issuance of virtual coins and anchor investor at the same time. The NSD will be required to act as the custodian, which main duties include to record and settle each transaction while providing proper protection measures.

The financial technology project is seen as the tool for creating necessary transparency decreasing risks involved in crypto coin issuance process. The test is expected to reveal all questionable parts that need to be improved before the platform enters real financial market trading.

According to the reports, the ICO will start at the beginning of Q3, 2018. That makes us expect the first issuance of new cryptocurrency around late-June/early July. The token sale will be held on NSD’s crypto exchange platform.

Chairman of the NSD, Eddie Astanin, said:

“Our end goal is to create the fundamental basis for the development of the digital economy in our country, for the emergence of a new type of asset for investors, for ICO ecosystems, and for the circulation of digital assets on the secondary market.”