Sberbank is on track to register its blockchain platform with the Bank of Russia by mid-September.
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank Anatoly Popov disclosed that the bank is consulting with Russia’s central bank on the initiative, which should be completed by mid-September. He said:
“We want the work on registration of the platform for the issue of CFA to be completed no later than the first half of September. So far, we only plan to issue and turnover of the bank’s own CFA, but have already begun to create functionality for the issue of CFA by third parties and expect that our clients will be able to use this opportunity later this year [...] Based on the results of the last check of the platform, we received minor comments, which we eliminated, and sent an updated petition to the Bank of Russia.”
Sberbank has been actively exploring blockchain-based solutions. Popov noted that the local banking giant was the first Russian company to create a cloud blockchain platform to facilitate automatic fast settlements. He explained that by employing cloud technology, the bank could access the required amount of IT resources in seconds.
There are reports that the bank has invested about $1 billion in its digital ecosystem since the beginning of the year.
Its latest blockchain platform would allow the bank to attract funding through the issuance of tokens under the supervision of the country’s apex bank. The functionality will be made available to third parties later in the year. So far, Russian mining and smelting company Norilsk Nickel and Sberbank have submitted the first applications for the implementation of their projects.
“Sberbank filed an application with the Bank of Russia to register its blockchain platform in early January since digital financial assets in accordance with the law can be issued on a registered platform.”