Russian billionaire will spend $6M to launch palladium-based crypto token

While Russian lawmakers are dawdling on passing a law on financial digital assets, business is looking cryptocurrency and blockchain technology adoption. 

Thus, a prominent Russian billionaire and the owner of Norilskiy Nickel Vladimir Potanin in a recenet interview announced the plans to launch blockchain-based platform and potentially issue a crypto token backed by palladium, Bloomberg reports. 

Being the world’s top producer of palladium, Nornikel wants to inspire innovations in the industry and lead the new technology adoption and inspire. Currently, the company plans to issue tokens via its Switzerland-based palladium fund and holds the talks with the Swiss government.  

“People more and more tend to use decentralized networks and platforms that don’t have a main operator,” he said. “We want to be active participants of this process,” as trading in digital tokens has many advantages, Potanin said.

According to the company’s estimations, the project will be launched by the end of this year, provided that the Russian legislators pass the law on financial digital assets. Otherwise, the company will have to move to some other jurisdiction to stay on schedule, Potanin added.

“The main problem of the draft is that it says that digital platforms should be run by banks and exchanges only,” Potanin said. That should change because such platforms can be used to do many things, so it won’t always just be in the interest of banks and exchanges, he explained, commenting on the law.

The project development will cost Nornickel $5 - $6 million, and several million dollars will be needed annually to keep it working.