Russian nickel and palladium mining and smelting company MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC is testing a platform for digital metal assets that may eventually account for a fifth of its sales, Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Potanin told Bloomberg in an interview.
The platform will not work in Russia due to legislative restrictions, but for anyone else, it will allow clients to buy digital assets backed by metals, which can afterward be exchanged for physical supplies.
"We are simply packing existing business links into a new and modern form," Potanin noted.
Nornickel reportedly wants for the tokens to gain approximately 20% of its metals sales. Potanin himself claims his investments in digital projects are worth more than $100 million.
Earlier iHodl reported that the Bank of Russia and the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring) are preparing a proposal to ban crypto payments.
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