Share this article
The Bank of Russia Says Its ICO Experiment Was a Success
The Bank of Russia has successfully concluded an experiment in conducting ICOs, though questions remain as to their legality in the nation.
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 8:22 a.m. Published Sep 11, 2018, 7:00 p.m.
The Bank of Russia has successfully conducted an experiment on token issuance, an official said Monday during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, news agency TASS reported Tuesday.
Ivan Semagin, deputy director of the financial development department of the bank, told attendees of the forum that the regulator had tested conducting "an experimental ICO based on the existing infrastructure" in the Bank of Russia's sandbox. Though the experiment was a success, there are still some issues, he said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
"In the framework of the 'sandbox' ... technically everything went well, but there were a lot of issues from a legal point of view," he explained.
He did not explain what these legal concerns were.
The test was originally announced in May, when Russia's largest state-funded retail bank, Sberbank, together with Russia's National Settlement Depository (NSD), said they were working on a test ICO. The experiment was expected to involve a company named Level One as an ICO issuer, Sberbank as the "issuance coordinator and anchor investor" and the NSD as the custodian, recording and settling transactions, as well as safeguarding the assets.
At the time, Sberbank senior vice president Igor Bulantsev said in a statement that "many Sberbank clients are interested in this type of investment, and we plan to promote this service proactively once the appropriate legislative framework comes into effect; we will be one of the drivers to institutionalize and popularize this type of transaction."
Editor's note: Statements in this article have been translated from Russian.
Russia flag image via Shutterstock
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bank of Japan Set to Hike Rates to 30-Year High, Posing Another Threat to Bitcoin
Rising Japanese rates and a stronger yen threaten carry trades and could pressure crypto markets despite easing U.S. policy.
What to know:
- According to the Nikkei, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is set to increase interest rates to 75bps, the highest level in 30 years.
- Rising Japanese funding costs, alongside falling U.S rates, could force leveraged funds to reduce carry trade exposure, increasing downside risk for bitcoin.
Top Stories
