Russian Central Bank Gives Go-Ahead to Blockchain Fintech Startup Atomyze

Atomyze Russia, a fintech startup co-owned by Global Palladium Fund, a metals distributor founded by Russia’s mining giant Nornickel, obtained the Russian central bank’s license to operate an information system and a digital financial assets exchange, the Bank of Russia announced on Thursday.

“The regulator recognized the rules of the company’s information system and the technical implementation of the platform as complying with the law,” the statement said.

The permit is given in line with the Russian law on digital financial assets, which came into force early last year.

Atomyze allows trade in digital tokens based on smart contracts, which are a monetary claim linked to Nornickel’s metals or products.

The ecosystem of tokenization trading platforms was created in 2019 with the support of an international group of investors, including the Swiss-registered Global Palladium Fund and Interros, the investment vehicle of Russian entrepreneur Vladimir Potanin. The platform was developed by Russian company Newity on the basis of the Hyperledger Fabriс solution, powered by IBM.

“The development of digital projects is a priority for Interros, since the digital economy opens up new opportunities for entering global markets, increases the competitiveness of the entire Russian economy, and allows more people to be involved in economic processes,” Interros President Vladimir Potanin said in a statement released by Interros.

According to Atomyze Russia CEO Ekaterina Frolovicheva, two key products will be launched first, for individuals and legal entities. For individuals, this will be one of the ways to manage wealth, and for legal entities, which are mainly consumers of palladium group metals, an opportunity to promptly manage the volumes of metal that, for some reason, was not used in production.

“One of the advantages of tokenization is the simplification of access to sales markets and to attracting liquidity. I am sure that our platform will serve as a powerful catalyst for the development of not only companies participating in the ecosystem, but ultimately will contribute to the formation of a digital product vertical in the capital markets of the whole country,” Frolovicheva said.

In 2022-2023, the company plans to launch instruments not only for other metals, but also to facilitate cooperation with other industries.

Atomyze’s US and Swiss entities are yet to receive the approval of relevant watchdogs and be launched officially.