Russia plans to establish a gold bank for the general public
On May 20, Russia unveiled a plan to create a large "gold bank" through which the public will be able to buy and store gold in both digital and physical forms.
This was reported by Russian Telegram channels.
The initiative is being developed by the A7 platform and the company "Rosveks" with the participation of the Russian Ministry of Finance. The project provides for the ability to purchase gold starting at 1 gram through online services or offices, with subsequent storage in state facilities. According to media reports, the platform’s key partner is businessman Ilan Shor, who was convicted in Moldova on money laundering charges.
A7, which is 51% owned by Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor—who was sentenced in his home country to 15 years in prison for money laundering—founded Rosveksell together with the Russian Ministry of Finance, which has been seeking ways since 2022 to sell domestically mined gold to the public.
The plan is for the public to be able to buy gold, starting from 1 gram, through the A7 online platform or at offices. “For every ruble spent by individuals and legal entities, gold will be purchased. And in this way, we want to build the largest gold bank in our country,” Akopian said (as quoted by Reuters). The plan is to store the gold at Goznak, though negotiations are not yet complete.
The Ministry of Finance expects that the “gold bank” project will help develop gold circulation and form a domestic market, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said.
Officials had anticipated this as early as 2022, when VAT on gold bullion was abolished for sales to individuals. However, this did not happen, partly due to Russians’ habit of keeping their savings in cash.
“In principle, at current prices, it’s enough to have 120 rubles in spare cash to buy yourself a small piece of gold—a digital financial asset that will be pegged to gold,” Moiseev said.
The company’s main owner, Shor, was sentenced in Moldova to 7 years and 6 months in prison for his involvement in the country’s most high-profile banking scandal in history (in 2023, following an appeal, the sentence was increased to 15 years). In 2014, $1 billion was transferred out of Moldova’s banking system, amounting to 12% of the country’s GDP.
Shor fled to Israel (and later moved to Russia), but continued his political activities in Moldova, founding the “Shor” party. Since 2020, the FSB has been actively working with him and his party, and it also provided funding, according to a major investigation by The Washington Post.
Earlier, Moldovan police reported the arrest of two individuals following extensive searches conducted on August 7 at the homes of associates of fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor.
Moldovan police warned citizens about an illegal scheme to finance and bribe voters, organized from Russia via the “Taito” app on the Telegram platform.
