Russian operator MTS has issued bonds in the form of smart contracts on the blockchain-a platform-National settlement Depository (NSD). The organizer and the main purchaser of the bonds has become a corporate and investment business of Sberbank of Sberbank CIB.

In the course of the transaction was placed semiannual bond for 750 million roubles with quarterly coupon of 6.8% per annum. In the press release of Sberbank emphasizes that this is the first in Russia transaction of full cycle up to the complete fulfillment by the Issuer of its obligations to the investor, including payments in rubles is implemented using a distributed registry.

All participants received access to the network that made “the process of placement, circulation and accounting of bonds as transparent as possible” and ensured confidentiality when dealing with accounts. In addition, the parties can share documents and track the status of transactions in real-time. The technical scheme of the transaction consisted of the processes implemented four smart contracts, from registration of the bonds in the blockchain until settlement in rubles, which occurred simultaneously with the transfer of rights to securities. A maturity of six months will be certified by the fifth smart contract.

According to “Kommersant”, the purpose of the bonds placement was not attracting investment as such; according to the publication, one of the objectives was to prove “empirically the advantages of this format over the classical bonds”.

This is confirmed by the words of the head of Sberbank CIB Igor Bulantsev:

“The bond issue MTS not only allowed us to confirm the reliability, efficiency and safety of the platform based on the blockchain for the organization and holding of complex structured transactions with securities, but also once again proved a promising technology for the development of the digital economy of Russia”.

Eddie Astanin, Chairman of the Executive Board, NSD, added

“The deal with Sberbank and MTS became the first and cemented bloccano the status of industrial technologies for ensuring confidentiality and speed in the calculation of securities. Our ultimate goal is to create together with market leaders accounting infrastructure of digital assets, the presence of which, is a fundamentally important condition for entering the market of institutional investors and its dynamic development and capitalization growth”.

MTS and Sberbank is not the first organization to realize such a deal. In October 2017, “the Megaphone” has placed bonds in favour of the Bank, however, in this case, the blockchain is used only for the delivery of securities.