It is a well-known fact governments all over the world want to issue their own digital currencies. Several banks have shown their willingness to do so as well. Russia may prove to be an interesting region in this regard over the next few years. Tinkoff Bank claims they will be issuing TinCoin digital currency in the near future. An interesting concept, although a lot of details have yet to be unveiled in this regard. For now, most of this concept is nothing more but speculation by Tinkoff founder Oleg Tinkov.
While no one would be surprised to see a bank issue their own coin, it remains highly unlikely that will be the case. More specifically banks have no real reason to do right now. Cryptocurrencies and bank-issued digital currencies are nothing alike. That doesn’t mean these bank-issued currencies have no future mind you. In fact, they may become far more successful than cryptocurrencies ever will. For the consumer, very little will change, though. The bank still adds more money as they see fit, but just in a digital format this time.
Tinkoff Bank may have Ambitious Plans
Tinkoff Bank may be one of Russia’s first financial institutions to explore this option. More specifically, founder Oleg Tinkov seems to hint at how TinCoin may become a thing sooner or later. If that is the case, it will be a rather ambitious goal, for obvious reasons. According to Tinkov, the “time is right” to explore this option. Whether or not the rest of the world agrees, remains to be seen, though.
For the time being, we have no idea what TinCoin entails exactly. Tinkov never shared much information regarding this currency or what its use cases would be in the first place. Tinkoff Bank is not the central bank in Russia, which makes this effort highly doubtful for the time being. That doesn’t mean we won’t see bank-issued digital currencies in Russia soon, but for now, no one should get their hopes up whatsoever.
While it is true Tinkoff bank doesn’t compete with state banks, issuing TinCoin would be highly controversial. More specifically, there is no bank issuing its own digital currency so far. That doesn’t mean this situation will not change in the future, though. It is true Tinkoff Bank is part of the Russian Fintech Association. They are heavily involved in finding new use cases for blockchain technology as we speak. An interesting future lies ahead for Russia in the world of digital currency, that much is certain.
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