Sberbank could issue a copycat of bitcoins in the future to keep up with the global trends, says German Gref, CEO of the country’s largest lender, says the Lenta.ru online news outlet.

      If the idea gets traction with consumers, the bank would consider issuing a new cryptic currency based on Yandex.Money.

      The service was acquired by Sberbank earlier this year from Yandex, who got $60 million for 74 percent of the service.

      Gref believes virtual currencies need regulation which will be introduced after a collapse of any of them.

      According to a survey by Google, Russians lead in the number of queries for bitcoins, followed by Estonia and the US.

      Sberbank of Russia is the largest bank in Russia and CIS. The founder and principal shareholder is the Central Bank of Russia, which owns 50 percent of the Bank's authorized capital plus 1 voting share. The rest of the shares are held by international and domestic investors. The Bank's ordinary and preferred shares have been publicly traded in Russia since 1996, and the American Depositary Shares (ADS) were listed on the London Stock Exchange, admitted to trading in Frankfurt Stock Exchange and over the counter in the US.

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