Russia: Qiwi launches investment bank in cryptocurrency

QBT, a subsidiary of Qiwi, the largest electronic payment system in Russia, would have created an investment bank in cryptocurrency called HASH.

The first investment bank in cryptocurrency of Russia

The QBT project is based on the classic model of the investment bank which will be equally adapted to the cryptocurrency market.
Yakov Barinksyi, director of QBT, explained:

"We will help businesses in their fundraising phase. This will be a classic monetization: we will receive our commission after the company has received an investment. "

In addition, QBT will work as a technology sub-contractor while HASH will focus on developing the financial structure of projects such as multiple use cases and their applications. This means that Qiwi's subsidiary will be helped by the companies to raise capital via an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

"This is Russia's leading investment bank for cryptocurrency," HASH announced.

Financial institutions are cautiously optimistic

HASH's ambition goes beyond the borders of Russia, the next step would be to rake in international capital funds specializing in digital currencies. In fact, the project is already working with dozens of cryptocurrency investment funds, the largest of which manages about $ 100 million.

Most banks are optimistic about the QBT project while remaining cautious. As an example, the second largest bank in Russia, VTB believes that interest in crypto-markets will increase as the legal framework that accompanies it grows.

Knowing that Russian President Vladimir Putin supports Blockchain technology and recognizes its immense potential , VTB representatives as well as traditional financial institutions in the country are more willing to accept the large distributed register. The Blockchain is "well-suited to traditional businesses like traditional merchant banks and banks," Putin said in an earlier announcement.

In addition, Sergey Solonin, the CEO of Qiwi Group confirmed the company's participation in the HASH project as a strategic investor.

Qiwi is an international electronic payments company launched in Moscow and based in Cyprus. Its net income reached $ 229 million in 2017, with assets totaling nearly $ 20.1 million.

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