The largest Russian bank, Sber – formerly known as Sberbank – has reported the first issuance of gold-backed digital financial assets (AFDs). The bank views these assets as a “great alternative” to investing amid de-dollarization.
On December 26, Sber published the news of its first issuance of gold-backed AFDs. A diversified metals dealer and manufacturer, Solfer, became the first investor to get the assets issued. Gold-backed AFDs represent certification money rights, the price and volume of which depend on gold prices.
According to the legal documentation of the issuance, the bank will make up to 150,000 AFD available to potential investors. These assets may be acquired until July 30, 2023. The document mentions “the high risks” for investors, inherent to this type of asset, including “the risk of illiquidity.”
The first vice president of the Administrative Council of Sber, Alexander Vedyakhin, affirms that this type of AFD is an alternative to traditional investments in the midst of the de-dollarization caused by the international financial sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine:
“We expect the number of corporate clients of our platform to grow rapidly and we plan to expand the product line of digital financial assets.”
While the current legislation on the DFA came into force in 2020, in July 2022 the Russian president, Vladimir Putin signed a bill banning digital financial assets as a method of payment.
In June, a subsidiary of another Russian state bank, VTB Factoring, reported its first big deal in digital financial assets. As part of the operation, the banking subsidiary acquired a set of tokenized debt from the engineering company Metrowagonmash, issued through the Lighthouse fintech platform. Sber tested its first operation with ADF at the end of July, issuing three-month assets worth 1 billion rubles (about $14.5 million at press time).
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