Russia's third largest bank by assets, Gazprombank, has announced received a license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to provide cryptocurrency bank accounts to corporate and institutional clients.
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With the license, Gazprombank can offer custody services for cryptocurrencies as well as trading between crypto and fiat. The bank claims it will initially provide crypto-oriented services only to a limited number of selected clients.
"The new services will include institutional-grade storage solutions and the purchase and sale of Bitcoin," an official press release says.
The bank also plans to expand services with additional cryptocurrencies in the future. Gazprombank CEO, Roman Abdulin, expects cryptocurrencies "to become increasingly important in the global economy and, in particular, for our current and potential clientele."
"We are very pleased to be able to offer these services to our clients after years of professional development using top industry know-how," Abdulin added.
As iHodl earlier reported, the Bank of Russia, the country's central bank, might start testing its own version of digital the Russian ruble at the end of 2021.
The watchdog's head Elvira Nabiullina admits that the possibility for issuance of the digital ruble is very real, and the pilot testing might happen at the end of 2021 already. However, the regulator has no plans to replace fiat money with the introduction of the digital ruble.
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