Russia’s Tinkoff Bank Is “Almost Ready” to Launch TinCoin, Its Own Cryptocurrency

At a time in which Russian central bank officials question whether or not they should legalize cryptocurrencies, the founder of Russian bank Tinkoff, Oleg Tinkov, published a post on his Facebook page in which he states that his bank is “almost ready” to launch its own cryptocurrency, TinCoin.

According to reports, Tinkoff bank was founded in 2006 and managed to obtain a large number of clients in a short amount of time thanks to flexible credit card terms. In August this year, the bank was among the top two credit card issuers in Russia, with a market share of 11.5% and 8 million issued credit cards. Its total assets, according to its website, are of 215.3 billion rubles ($3.71 billion). Banki.ru, Russia’s largest financial news portal, named it Bank of the Year 2016.

In his Facebook post, Oleg Tinkov revealed that he has a feeling “technological leadership” is escaping, and as such he feels like the time is right to launch TinCoin.

The banker’s post didn’t reveal a lot about TinCoin itself and only added that Tinkoff “does not compete with state banks” in a somewhat ironic reply to a comment. In another reply, Tinkov seemingly revealed he’s a technology enthusiast and, presumably, a cryptocurrency enthusiast.

In a rough translation, the banker answered a comment about customer service stating that he “immediately and quickly get used to the good, and demand even better”, and added that he considers Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs a genius.

Oleg Tinkov’s initiative to launch TinCoin, if it does happen, is certainly noteworthy as Russia’s official stance toward cryptocurrencies has been contradictory. While the country’s Deputy Finance Minister, Alexey Moiseev, has stated that Russia is likely to ban bitcoin payments, the Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said, back in September, that there was “no sense in banning cryptocurrencies.” He notably stated:

“The state understands indeed that cryptocurrencies are real. There is no sense in banning them, there is a need to regulate them.”

Oleg Tinkov’s post was applauded by various social media users, as some even stated that they would adopt the cryptocurrency right away. One user incentivized the CEO, stating that he’s got the audience and the technology, and as such liquidity would be created quickly.