Russian Bank Sberbank to Start Official First Russian ICO

The Russian bank Sberbank CIB and the National Settlement Depository (NRD) are behind the initial Official First Official Coin Offer (ICO) deal using a sandbox of Bank of Russia regulations, according to local media.
Sberbank CIB is the investment bank of state-owned big bank Sberbank, while the NRD is part of the Moscow Stock Exchange Group. Both entities are now finalizing plans with the central bank to launch the project by the end of summer 2018.
Igor Bulantsev, head of Sberbank CIB, said that the bank considers the Russian ICO market "very promising." According to him, many bank clients "are interested in this new fundraising way." All results from this experimental ICO will be used to launch a new tokenized online service by Level One, the company that runs the largest lecture hall in Moscow.

Vedomosti reported NRD, Eddi Astanin said that the project tokens will only be sold for rubles and open exclusively to "qualified" investors, probably accredited investors, those who have some money.

More recently, the Russian Parliament in the first reading has been very supportive of the bill on On Digital Financial Asset cryptocurrency themed, as reported by Cryptonews.com. Duma also chose to support two parallel bills, one in "digital rights" and the other about crowdfunding. In particular, the new law states that the Bank of Russia may limit the number of crypto transactions to anyone who is not a qualified investor.