Development of the Market for Digital Financial Assets

Organizing partners: Bank of Russia

Venue: International Exhibition Centre Kazan Expo, Kazan

Time: May 19, 2023, 13:00–14:20

Moderator: Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Market

Speakers:

Nikolay Zhuravlev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation;

Oleg Nikolayev, Head of the Chuvash Republic;

Alexey Guznov, State Secretary – Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia;

Sergey Shvetsov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of PJSC Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS;

Kirill Pronin, Director of the Financial Technology Department of the Bank of Russia;

Dmitry Ishchenko, Deputy General Director of the FinTech Association;

Denis Iordanidi, CEO of LIGHTHOUSE LLC;

Alexander Volkov, Deputy General Director for Finance and Investments of Bitriver Management Company LLC.

The world is witnessing the active development of digital technologies in various spheres of activity, including the financial sector. One of these is the distributed ledger technology that has created prerequisites for the origination of new global market instruments and services, including digital financial assets (DFAs). The issuance and circulation of digital assets is a new trend in the financial market. The market of digital assets remains at an initial stage of development and is several times smaller in terms of volume than the market of conventional financial instruments. The first legislative regulation for digital financial assets in Russia appeared more than two years ago, but their circulation is still of an occasional nature.

Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Nikolay Zhuravlev told about a pilot project in the field of DFA implemented with the active participation of both state-owned and commercial banks. Moreover, he noted the establishment of a regulatory framework for the activities involving DFAs.

The Head of the Chuvash Republic Oleg Nikolayev told about the development of Cheboksary agglomeration in the form of a short workshop and proposed to implement a pilot project based at the Chuvash Republic on the development of digital financial assets.

Talking about the possibility of using digital rights in the scope of Islamic finance, State Secretary – Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia Alexey Guznov mentioned the need for their practical evaluation. “We are in the testing mode of this subject-matter as a whole,” he stated.

Sharing his opinion about the role of stock exchange in the establishment of a liquid market for digital financial assets, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of PJSC Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS Sergey Shvetsov noted that “DFAs are both form and substance.” Most likely, DFAs are the very instrument to adequately respond to new challenges under the established conditions. Moreover, the speaker expressed hope that DFAs do have a great potential, and, perhaps, will help replace US dollars in international settlements.

Director of the Financial Technology Department of the Bank of Russia Kirill Pronin shared forecasts and ideas in the context of further measures for the development of the DFA market.

Reporting to the audience and describing the key initiatives for the development of the DFA market, Deputy General Director of the FinTech Association Dmitry Ishchenko identified a number of important problems, including the definition of actual market needs, interoperability and internal operability issues.