Moscow Exchange to Launch A Platform Publishing ICO Token-Sale Data

Russia’s largest stock exchange operator, Moscow Exchange (MOEX) is said to be developing an infrastructure for publishing and sharing information on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to the investors.

While talking to Reuters Russia, Moscow Exchange CEO Alexander Afanasiev said that the exchange will not be listing tokens but will instead provide only information regarding the responsibilities of token issuers along with the description of certain tokens and ICOs to the investors.

Afanasiev said that “Right now we’re looking at this from the point of view of fiat currencies, because cryptocurrencies don’t have the status of a legally protected asset. If they obtain that status, we will place them in our system as well.”

He also stated that if there is sufficient demand from the investors, the Moscow Exchange will also be issuing futures contracts for ICOs. He said that "we're working on a possible structure of such futures now."

Afanasiev was also vocal about the fact that the exchange is currently conducting market research on potential interest in different digital currency products and what kind of future specifications they are likely to have.

The Moscow Exchange is said to be the central liquidity and price discovery center for several Russian financial instruments like bonds, equities, currencies, derivatives, money-market instruments and commodities. As on May 2018, the exchange holds a total trading volume around $1.1 trillion.

Off lately, there has been quite positive news coming from Russia about cryptocurrency development taking place in the country. Last month in May, the Russian state of Duma approved for new laws to regulate the digital currency industry. The recently created laws define digital currencies and tokens as property while laying out proper specifications to interact with crypto and blockchain-related technologies.

In addition to this, last month in May 2018, Russia’s largest banking institution Sberbank formed an official partnership with National Settlement Depository (NSD) to test out the blockchain-based Initial Coin Offerings on the regulatory platform of Central Bank of Russia(CBR).

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his stand on cryptocurrencies stating that his government would have a cautious approach while dealing with cryptocurrencies. Putin also suggested that the underlying blockchain technology will be very helpful to Russia in order to overcome the sanctions put by Western countries.

Putin also indicated that Russia is currently not willing to use digital currencies as a means of payment. He said: “In most countries, cryptocurrency is not a means of settlement. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation believes that cryptocurrencies cannot be a means of payment, settlement or store of value. These currencies are not secured by anything.”