Norilsk Nickel subsidiary issues Russia's first digital financial assets for gold, palladium, platinum, copper and nickel

2024: Issue of Russia's first digital financial assets for gold, palladium, platinum, copper and nickel

On March 14, 2024, Gypief Investments, a subsidiary of "" Norilsk Nickel for the digitalization of metals, announced the release of the first in Russia digital financial assets (CFA) for gold, palladium, platinum, copper and nickel. The placement took place on the blockchain platform Atomaiz"."

It is noted that thanks to the different dynamics of prices for these metals, investors receive "a comfortable combination of risk and profitability in the form of a ready-made diversified portfolio." The value of the token is calculated automatically taking into account metal quotes at the evening session of the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the London Precious Metals Market Association (LBMA). Since the quotes are dollar, the price is translated into rubles at the official exchange rate of the Bank of Russia.

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The volume of issue amounted to about 11 million rubles, it included 1000 tokens. CFAs will be in circulation for 1 year. It is said that the Atomais platform allows businesses to quickly and conveniently attract financing and manage free liquidity through the release of CFA. Investors gain access to new assets and financial instruments.

We offered investors a truly unique digital financial asset for Russia. This new product reflects not only Norilsk Nickel's overall desire for innovation, but also the company's focus on the Russian private investment sector, "says Vladimir Pronsky, CEO of Gypief Investments.

The company says that for the first time in Russia, one token combines precious and non-ferrous metals. Alexey Ilyasov, General Director of the Atomaiz platform, emphasizes that such diversification helps to protect against short-term changes in prices for specific metals. According to historical data, metal prices have a low correlation with the stock market, and therefore, in the event of macroeconomic uncertainty, such CFAs can remain an effective tool for preserving funds.^[1]

2022: Issue of the first palladium token in Russia

On July 18, 2022, the Atomais Russia platform and Rosbank announced the start of transactions with digital financial assets (CFA) for precious metals in Russia. The first such transaction was the issuance of a token for palladium, which includes the right to a monetary claim equivalent to the market value of this metal. It is noted that we are talking about the first palladium token in the Russian Federation.

The first issuer was GPF Investments (the Russian division of the Global Palladium Fund), an international fund with a portfolio of valuable metals, and Rosbank and broker Vector X became one of the first investors on the platform.

First palladium token issued in Russia

According to the press service of Interros (an investor of Atomais Russia), previously palladium was not a publicly available asset in the markets in Russia, and now on the Atomais platform the metal is presented in the format of a new type of financial instruments that allow both procurement and investment. The investment novelty of the product is the right to a monetary claim equivalent to the market value of palladium.

Atomiz Russia is a key element of the Interros digital ecosystem, which, in addition to Rosbank, will also include Reksoft, Tinkoff Bank and other companies in the group.

According to Perizat Shaikhina, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Rosbank, the bank became one of the first banking partners of the Atomais platform. Rosbank provides infrastructure for organizing settlements and identifying operator customers, and in this case acted as an investor.

The debut investment deal using CFA in Russia confirms the possibility of active development of the financial market using distributed register technologies. Tokenization of rights to precious and rare metals, other raw materials assets is a new tool for the widest categories of investors, which, for example, can become a very interesting alternative to investments in currency, she said.[2]

2021

Placement of nickel and copper tokens on the London Stock Exchange

Nornickel placed nickel and copper tokens on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). This was announced by the world's largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel on June 17, 2021.

We are talking about the so-called digital exchange instruments (ETC), which, as the company said, for the first time open investors low-cost access to non-ferrous metals: the ratio of total expenses for copper ETC is 0.85%, for nickel - 0.75%.

Norilsk Nickel placed tokens for nickel and copper on the London Stock Exchange

It is noted that ETCs have features of financial assets. They provide investors with access to commodity markets. At the same time, restrictions on investments in metals apply to them.

New digital tools are a great opportunity for investors to take advantage of the growing demand for nickel and copper today, as the world enters an active phase of the transition to a green economy, "said Anton Berlin, Vice President and Head of Sales and Commerce at Norilsk Nickel.

Nickel and copper-backed digital tokens on the LSE were placed by the Norilsk Nickel Global Palladium Fund (GPF). The new ETCs for nickel and copper are tied to spot prices on the London Metal Exchange. The metal, which provides digital tools for the palladium fund, is stored in secure warehouses in Rotterdam.

According to the press service of Norilsk Nickel, GPF became the first first ETC issuer to use blockchain to provide investors with increased transparency and security of their assets by recording immutable information about the metal.

According to GPF CEO Alexander Stoyanov, the new ETC for nickel and copper have advantages such as low ownership costs, high transparency of turnover, security and stable supply. The GPF aims to democratize investments in precious and non-ferrous metals, it added.^[3]

Deutsche Börse Floatation

Metal-backed tokens of Norilsk Nickel are listed on the German stock exchange Deutsche Börse. The Russian manufacturer of palladium and nickel announced this on January 18, 2021.

The company also said that in the coming days these digital exchange instruments will also be displayed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Tokens open up opportunities for investors to relatively inexpensive ownership of raw materials assets at low transaction costs, said Anton Berlin, vice president and head of the Norilsk Nickel sales and commerce unit.

Metal-backed tokens of Norilsk Nickel are listed on the German stock exchange Deutsche Börse

Placed exchange products have the advantages of financial assets, while restrictions on investments in metals on the London Metal Exchange do not apply to them, he explained (quoted by the press service of Norilsk Nickel).

According to Alexander Stoyanov, CEO of the Global Palladium Fund (Global Palladium Fund), the company's method of digitizing raw materials allows you to record and track the sources of origin of metals and how they are produced along with data confirming compliance with ESG requirements.

He added that digital tokens provided by physical metals, including palladium, platinum, gold and silver, have key differences. Nornickel establishes a new high standard in the field of responsible mining, supporting the charter of the UN2030 and standards for the sources of LBMA metal development.

Norilsk Nickel intends to use the capabilities of the Atomyze blockchain platform to tokenize part of the contract supply volumes in order to offer a new class of investment products to a wide range of investors interested in digital assets, the company noted.^[4]

2020: Nornickel issues digital currency backed by palladium

On December 22, 2020, Norilsk Nickel announced the release of a metal-backed digital currency based on the Atomyze block-chain platform. This project was implemented by the Global Palladium Fund, created by the Russian mining and metallurgical company.

Issued digital tokens will be provided with metal reserves for which regular audits will be carried out. At the first stage, Nornickel will test tokens provided with palladium, cobalt and copper, and in the future plans to tokenize other metals. The total volume of tokens to be issued during the first year is expected to be up to 10% of Norilsk Nickel's total sales.

Norilsk Nickel presented a digital currency backed by palladium

During the test period, Nornickel partners, including Trafigura, Traxys and Umicore, will receive access to the platform. In the future, as soon as Atomyze receives all the necessary licenses, access will be opened for other types of issuers, and the platform will go into full-featured mode of operation.

Norilsk Nickel wants to make 20% of metal sales to industrial customers through digital transactions in 2021. The company believes that tokenization will increase the liquidity of metals by increasing the number of industrial customers and investment demand.

The economy is digitized, and financial flows are moving from a traditional economy to a digital one, says Norilsk Nickel President Vladimir Potanin, commenting on the news that his company became the first issuer of the Atomyze industrial asset tokenization platform. - Nornickel invests in the development of various digital solutions for industrial applications, including solutions for tokenizing mutual settlements. Norilsk Nickel is the first industrial leader to begin selling products using tokens. We are interested in this project, since it will allow us to popularize our metals thanks to the transition to digital trading methods.[5]

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