Top Russian bank Sberbank plans to launch its stablecoin by spring 2021

Sberbank, the largest state-owned bank in Russia, has reportedly filed an application with the Bank of Russia to launch a blockchain platform for its “Sbercoin” stablecoin.

Sergey Popov, director of the transaction business at Sberbank, announced the news on Jan. 21 at a local financial event Russian news agency Interfax reports.

At “Digital transformation and prospects for regulating the digital economy,” Popov said that Sberbank applied with the central bank in early January, explaining that the registration procedure usually takes no longer than 45 days. As such, the bank may launch its platform and stablecoin by the spring this year, the official said. However, Sberbank is still working out how to tax Sbercoin:

“There is a high probability that this project will be launched in the spring. There is one more issue that has not yet been fully resolved, which is connected to the taxation of digital financial assets. But we hope that this question will be resolved soon.”

Popov reportedly added that Sberbank is “ready to work with such a fiat currency” from a technological standpoint so far. “We have completed an internal testing to see that the solution works,” he said.

Sberbank did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

As previously reported, Sberbank broke the news on developing its native Sbercoin token at the end of November, following long-running speculation about these plans. Sberbank’s latest announcement comes shortly after Russia officially adopted its crypto law “On Digital Financial Assets” on Jan. 1, 2021.

In late 2020, Anatoly Aksakov, a member of the Russian State Duma, said that the Duma’s Committee on Financial Markets expects Russian crypto issuance to surge after the adoption of the country’s new crypto law.