Central Bank of Russia forecasts increase in penetration of DFAs through marketplace applications
MOSCOW. Oct 2 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia forecasts an increase in the penetration of digital financial assets (DFAs) due to the audience of marketplaces, which issue DFAs and place them in their applications, and it will monitor this practice, the director of the CBR's Financial Market Infrastructure Department Kirill Pronin said.
DFAs are digital analogues of securities, which are issued as records in an information system based on a distributed ledger (tokens) and confirm the investor's rights to an asset. Previously, the Central Bank said that the majority of the DFA market consists of analogues of short-term bonds.
"The trend that also draws attention is the emergence of big tech companies in the market of digital platforms, in the market of digital assets. We see that even technology giants are showing interest in this market. Some of them have started testing, issuing their own tokens on digital asset platforms. Certain marketplaces have not only issued digital assets but have also placed them on the showcase of their product marketplace application," Pronin said during the Digital Finance: A New Economic Reality forum organized by ACRA.
"We can probably predict that, given the audience of product marketplaces, the level of penetration of digital assets through their applications will also, probably, grow significantly. We will observe how this practice is further implemented," he said.
Pronin did not specify which particular marketplace he was referring to. But currently, an active player in the market related to marketplaces is the company Ozon Capital, which combines most of the financial services of Ozon Group. The issuances take place on the platform of the subsidiary of MTS - Blockchain Hub (the DFA Hub brand), and they can be purchased in the Ozon application. PJSC MTS and the Ozon marketplace are part of the portfolio of assets of PJSC AFK Sistema .
New platforms are also beginning to be created by banking groups, with the Central Bank registering the Gazprombank platform on September 26. "In general, it seems that the rule of good form now for a banking group is to have a digital platform for issuing DFAs within its ecosystem. Time will tell how rational this is. It seems that there should not be many infrastructure solutions, but the invisible hand of the market will put everything in its place," he said.
The Central Bank's register of DFA platform operators currently contains 18 participants, among them Sberbank , VTB , PSB , Gazprombank , Alfa-Bank, T-Bank and Sinara Bank.
