The first cryptocurrency backed loan issued n Russia reportedly uses Waves (WAVES), the native cryptocurrency of the Waves Platform, an open network and decentralized platform for Web 3.0 applications.
According to a report published by Russian news outlet Kommersant, the crypto-backed loan was issued by commercial bank Expobank. Waves’ founder and CEO Alexander Ivanov confirmed the report on social media, pointing out WAVEs tokens were used as collateral.
Kommersant’s report details the loan was issued to local entrepreneur Mikahil Uspensky, who is reportedly committed to keeping the WAVEs tokens. At press time each token is trading close to the $4 mark, after moving up from $1.8 earlier this month. Their all-time high was of $13 in December 2017.
The report cites legal exports who are reportedly confident this new type of crypto-backed loan can become recognized under Russian law, although some are still uncertain. Kirill Nikitin, a law at the firm Vegas Lex, noted that the circulation of cryptoassets is Russia is associated with legal uncertainty.
Russia has recently passed a law that prohibits cryptocurrency payments, although more regulatory clarity is expected later this year. Kommersant also quotes Yuri Brisov, a local lawyer who argued Waves tokens are legal to use in the country, saying:
- There are no restrictions on the circulation of non-payment tokens in our country.
It’s worth noting the Waves ecosystem has been developing steadily in Russia. In July, CryptoGlobe reported Waves Enterprise and Microsoft partnered to launch corporate blockchain solutions in the country, focusing on the creation of a cloud service for automatically auditing smart contracts.
Earlier this year the CEO of Waves warned the cryptocurrency space against the decentralized finance growth’s potential to become a new bubble, just like the initial coin offering (ICO) trend became.
Featured image via Pixabay.
