Sberbank may issue a digital token pegged to the Russian ruble for settlements on transactions with digital financial assets. The decision will be made closer to 2021, when the cryptocurrency legislation will come into force in Russia.

The largest Russian commercial bank by clinets' number admitted the possibility of issuing a digital token, the rate of which will be pegged to the ruble. It was confirmed by Sergey Popov, director of the Transaction Business Division of the company. The ruble-pegged stablecoin can become a convenient tool for transactions with other digital financial assets, he suggested.

“From the point of view of the bank, it is also interesting for us. Probably, we can issue [rubble-pegged token] on the basis of the law that was adopted, a token that we can peg to the ruble, such a stablecoin, which can become an instrument for settlements for some other digital financial assets," he said during an online conference "Digital Financial Assets in Practice".

The bank told that the decision will be made in the near future. “The legislation on digital financial assets will come into force on January 1, 2021, and Sberbank is undoubtedly analyzing changes in legislation and taking into account wishes of its customers and partners. On the basis of these studies, we will make an appropriate decision in the near future,” Sberbank said in an official statement.

This is not the first time that bank managers and officials made statements about the possible issue of a digital ruble in Russia. Thus, at the beginning of 2019, Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, suggested that the crypto-ruble could appear in Russia in two to three years.

“I can say my point of view, because so far the Central Bank is conservative [about this idea]. From my point of view, yes, [this stablecoin can appear in Russia]. A crypto-ruble is a collateralized ruble pegged to the national currency, but is emitted on the blockchain. The wider the use of blockchain in our financial turnover, and not only in financial, but also in economic turnover, the more likely the emergence of a crypto-ruble. I think this is a matter of two or three years,” he said.