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ICO & Deals
June 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
previous will act as the issuance coordinator and an- chor investor in tokens while the NSD, as the trans- action custodian, will record tokens and carry out settlements related to their issue and circulation.
Through this pilot project, Sberbank CIB and NSD aim to “assess the specifics of these transactions, mitigate associated risks, and get feedback from the Bank of Russia related to improving mecha- nisms to conduct transactions.”
Sberbank CIB claims that its experience “as a leader in Russia’s investment business will make Russian ICOs more transparent for traditional investors in the future, guaranteeing the high quality of the or- ganization conducting these types of trades.”
Sberbank CIB and NSD intend to involve “a wide circle of their clients” after the ICO legal framework is stabilized with the adoption of new legislation.
“Sberbank CIB considers the Russian ICO market to be very promising. Many Sberbank clients are
interested in this type of investment, and we plan to promote this service proactively once the ap- propriate legislative framework comes into effect; we will be one of the drivers to institutionalize and popularize this type of transaction,” stated Igor Bulantsev, Senior VP of Sberbank and Head of Sberbank CIB.
Eddie Astanin, Chairman of NSD’s Executive Board, said: “National Settlement Depository uses a pragmatic approach with regard to FinTech. Our end goal is to create the foundations for the development of the digital economy in our country, for the emergence of a new type
of asset for investors, for ICO ecosystems, and for the circulation of digital assets on the secondary market. In conjunction with market leaders, we are implementing a project to create infrastructure to record digital assets. The existence of this infrastructure is a crucial condition for institutional investors to come to our market.”
US’s Zynga acquires Turkish mobile gaming start-up Gram Games for $250mn
US-based social gaming developer Zynga has acquired Turkish mobile gaming start-up Gram Games for $250mn, Reuters reported on May 30.
Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau also announced that Zynga would pay a bonus over three years if Gram passed financial targets.
Gram Games currently has nine mobile games that have been downloaded 170mn times in total.
It has about 3mn daily active users. The company has 77 personnel.
Gram Games was founded in Istanbul in 2017 and it also has a studio in London.
Zynga acquired Turkish mobile gaming company Peak Games’ studio for $100mn in November 2017.