# The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation wants to tokenize gold. Experts explained why.
Tokenization of gold is a "very promising solution" for Russia that can be implemented in the near future, said Alexey Yakovlev, director of the Ministry of Finance's policy department.
According to him, the digitization of precious metals will enable solutions for cross-border payments and international settlements "in a new reality."
At the same time, Deputy Head of the Central Bank Alexey Guznov reported that changes will be made to the legislation on digital financial assets (CFA) that will allow expenses for the issuance of digital debt securities to be included in the overall base for income tax.
"The point is to institutionalize, to highlight debt digital financial assets as a separate instrument," Guznov explained.
Currently, all operations with digital financial assets must be accounted for in a separate tax base. This reduces interest in the instrument due to the complexity of filing declarations.
What will tokenization provide?
Managing partner of "Agranova and Partners" Maria Agranova explained in a comment to ForkLog that tokenized gold definitely cannot be used for payment, as a surrogate for monetary funds cannot be used for transactions for goods and services.
"However, in the form of CFA — quite so. Rather, it is an intra-group tool, or an investment one, for stabilization. Recently, there have been defaults on digital assets. It would be useful if they finally implement the exchange of CFA for CFA. Likely use for foreign economic activity, but one must consider the sanction risks for transparent Russian instruments," added Agranovskaya.
The expert also suggested a variant with a token issued from abroad based on Russian gold. But there are still many questions regarding the implementation mechanism of the initiative.
Crypto investor and founder of the Telegram channel "24 words" Artem Tolkachev suggested that tokenized gold could be used as an alternative means of payment in conditions of limited access to dollar infrastructure.
"This is a more convenient form of asset distribution. The coin can become an equivalent of an unallocated account of precious metals, but with a simpler transfer of rights and the possibility of fractional investments. A step towards the overall digitalization of finance. The launch of such instruments allows for the testing of the infrastructure - storage, accounting, circulation. This could become the basis for the next products (tokenization of debts, stocks, commodities)," the speaker clarified.
But if we look at the initiative critically, it will only work if international counterparties are indeed ready to accept such a coin, Tolkachyov continued. And why would they do that — is a big question.
"Will they trust a conditional central bank or another custodian that holds gold and provides the redemption of tokens in physical metal?" Tolchachev believes it's also questionable.
He highlighted the main point: the tokenization of gold creates liquidity and convenience of transactions, but does not provide a "base layer of yield," like treasuries or money market funds. Therefore, the prospects depend not on technology, but on the emergence of real users willing to use digital gold for transactions or storage.
According to Tolkachev, implementing the initiative is technically not difficult: you need to deposit gold in a depository, issue a coin, and secure this with a legal structure.
"The main question arises next: what to do with this? Transferring the asset on-chain is the easiest part of the task. Much more difficult is to understand what real cases this coin addresses and to build the infrastructure so that it is in demand. Tokenization itself does not provide anything. A clear use case is needed," he added.
Agranovskaya reminded of the already existing technology of utilitarian digital rights (UCP), which has not gained significant traction due to the underdeveloped tax aspect.
"There are hybrid assets - CFA and UCP. I think they will develop. But who needs them abroad is still not entirely clear. Of course, digitization is primarily aimed, as they say, at overcoming geographical barriers. This is a cross-border technology," the interlocutor emphasized.
Global Trend
From the beginning of 2024 to June 2025, the global RWA market added over $100 billion in capitalization. The segment of tokenized treasury bonds reached a record high of $5.6 billion.
Source: CoinGecko. However, in a global context, tokenized assets need standardization of regulatory requirements, noted Agranovskaya.
"In Dubai, they are regulated one way, in the USA — another. In Europe, any tokenization is, of course, MiCA. There is a specific qualification for tokens there, and this includes tax implications, licensing for secondary trading, and so on. RWA is undoubtedly a trend. This direction firmly occupies its place in history, but more and more it is becoming similar to just digital securities or bills of lading," she pointed out.
Tolkachev explained that today the first tokenized assets are primarily U.S. Treasury bonds, money market funds, and other highly liquid instruments that provide stable interest and can serve as a base layer of yield for DeFi.
The second direction of tokenization is stocks, where the digital layer solves the access problem.
"Crypto investors can enter positions directly from their wallet: that is, they do not need to leave the crypto world, but can work with traditional financial instruments right inside, not just buying and selling stocks, but also providing liquidity through AMM and performing more complex operations that are simply not available in the world of traditional finance," explained the advantages Tokarev.
But tokenization is always closely related to regulation: without a clear legal framework, a crypto asset is merely a record on the blockchain. The investor noted that a token becomes a full-fledged financial instrument only if the law recognizes ownership rights.
Therefore, progress in tokenization is taking place in jurisdictions where special regimes already exist, such as the USA and the European Union.
"The second important part is the custodian. For most assets, tokenization is impossible without a trusted party that holds the asset and issues the token. It is the custodian that acts as a guarantor that the coin is actually backed, and the reliability and reputation of this party directly influence whether the market will accept such an instrument. Ultimately, trust in the infrastructure turns out to be as important as the technology itself," concluded Tolkachev.
Recall that Tristero Research warned of a repeat of the 2008 crisis in the real-world assets sector.
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The Russian Ministry of Finance wanted to tokenize gold. Experts explained why.
Tokenization of gold is a "very promising solution" for Russia that can be implemented in the near future, said Alexey Yakovlev, director of the Ministry of Finance's policy department.
According to him, the digitization of precious metals will enable solutions for cross-border payments and international settlements "in a new reality."
At the same time, Deputy Head of the Central Bank Alexey Guznov reported that changes will be made to the legislation on digital financial assets (CFA) that will allow expenses for the issuance of digital debt securities to be included in the overall base for income tax.
Currently, all operations with digital financial assets must be accounted for in a separate tax base. This reduces interest in the instrument due to the complexity of filing declarations.
What will tokenization provide?
Managing partner of "Agranova and Partners" Maria Agranova explained in a comment to ForkLog that tokenized gold definitely cannot be used for payment, as a surrogate for monetary funds cannot be used for transactions for goods and services.
The expert also suggested a variant with a token issued from abroad based on Russian gold. But there are still many questions regarding the implementation mechanism of the initiative.
Crypto investor and founder of the Telegram channel "24 words" Artem Tolkachev suggested that tokenized gold could be used as an alternative means of payment in conditions of limited access to dollar infrastructure.
But if we look at the initiative critically, it will only work if international counterparties are indeed ready to accept such a coin, Tolkachyov continued. And why would they do that — is a big question.
He highlighted the main point: the tokenization of gold creates liquidity and convenience of transactions, but does not provide a "base layer of yield," like treasuries or money market funds. Therefore, the prospects depend not on technology, but on the emergence of real users willing to use digital gold for transactions or storage.
According to Tolkachev, implementing the initiative is technically not difficult: you need to deposit gold in a depository, issue a coin, and secure this with a legal structure.
Agranovskaya reminded of the already existing technology of utilitarian digital rights (UCP), which has not gained significant traction due to the underdeveloped tax aspect.
Global Trend
From the beginning of 2024 to June 2025, the global RWA market added over $100 billion in capitalization. The segment of tokenized treasury bonds reached a record high of $5.6 billion.
Tolkachev explained that today the first tokenized assets are primarily U.S. Treasury bonds, money market funds, and other highly liquid instruments that provide stable interest and can serve as a base layer of yield for DeFi.
The second direction of tokenization is stocks, where the digital layer solves the access problem.
But tokenization is always closely related to regulation: without a clear legal framework, a crypto asset is merely a record on the blockchain. The investor noted that a token becomes a full-fledged financial instrument only if the law recognizes ownership rights.
Therefore, progress in tokenization is taking place in jurisdictions where special regimes already exist, such as the USA and the European Union.
Recall that Tristero Research warned of a repeat of the 2008 crisis in the real-world assets sector.