Vladimir Potanin, the owner of diversified conglomerate Interros and the largest shareholder of Russian mining giant Nornickel, believes non-fungible tokens (NFTs), not cryptocurrencies, to be the future of the digital economy.
“Unlike some cryptocurrencies, platforms like Atomyze offer consumers high-quality and secure digital goods and may squeeze unreliable products out from the market,” Potanin told Bloomberg in an interview.
Regulators are wary about cryptocurrencies and stablecoins because these currency emissions are uncontrolled and unsecured, while tokens are backed by a product or service, he said.
“Metal coins were replaced by paper money, and then transactions became cashless. Digital financial assets are just the next stage,” Potanin said, adding that he is going to invest up to $1 billion in these technologies.
Last week, blockchain-based tokenization platform Atomyze, backed by Interros and Nornickel, became the first company to be greenlighted by the Russian monetary authorities under the law on digital financial assets that came into force in early 2021.
On Tuesday, the Russian government approved the concept of legislative regulation of the circulation of digital currencies with strict obligations for all market participants and with an emphasis on protecting ordinary investors.
Earlier on the same day, Nornickel became the only Russian company to be included in the annual Forbes Blockchain 50, a ranking of blockchain technology leaders with a capitalization or annual revenue of $1 billion or more, just as it was in 2021.