Nikolas Sargeant
T-Bank, Russia's leading neobank formerly known as Tinkoff Bank, has announced plans to launch blockchain-powered token investment instruments. The bank received approval from the Russian Central Bank in March to issue digital financial assets (DFAs) and plans to make these products available to retail investors by early 2025.
Partnership with Atomyze Platform
The bank is collaborating with Atomyze, a Moscow-based firm supported by Norilsk Nickel, to develop its digital asset offerings. Premium customers will gain early access to trading opportunities before 2024 ends, followed by a broader public launch in early 2025.
Innovative "Smart Assets" Framework
T-Bank's new investment products, dubbed "smart assets," leverage blockchain technology and automated smart contracts. The bank claims this technology will reduce operational costs and enable the creation of unique financial products previously unavailable in traditional markets. The platform promises constant liquidity through market makers and a comprehensive secondary market.
Eight Pilot Instruments
The initial rollout includes eight pilot instruments with projected yields up to 27.5% annually. The product range encompasses:
- Loan products
- Smart factoring portfolio for small and medium-sized Russian businesses
- Smart floater bonds with floating interest rates
- Art tokens tied to contemporary art sales income
- Scholarship tokens for university students
Understanding Russian DFAs
In Russian regulatory context, DFAs represent tokenized versions of physical and traditional financial assets. Unlike global real-world assets (RWA), these tokens operate on private blockchains under Central Bank oversight rather than public networks.
Market Expansion Goals
Atomyze CEO Alexey Ilyasov has outlined ambitious plans to expand the DFA market to include hundreds of thousands of investors by mid-2025. This initiative comes as other major Russian financial institutions, including Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, accelerate their entry into the DFA space.
T-Bank's Evolution
The bank's digital asset initiative follows significant organizational changes. Founded in 2006 by Oleg Tinkov, the institution recently rebranded from Tinkoff Bank to T-Bank. This transition occurred after Tinkov, now living in exile, denounced the Ukraine conflict and surrendered his Russian citizenship, subsequently being designated as a "foreign agent" by Moscow. Despite these changes, the bank maintains its operations, serving 43 million customers without disruption.
