Russia’s Sberbank Outlines Its Blockchain Strategy

Sberbank CTO Pavel Khodalev took to the stage at the Global Blockchain Summit in Shanghai talking about the bank’s blockchain strategy going forward.

Sberbank is the biggest state-owned bank in Russia.

According to Khodalev, an important first step is the work being done with the Central Bank of Russia’s interbank messaging system. Other innovations include an overhauled settlement depository and proxy voting implemented on a blockchain.

He said the Russian government is an advocate of blockchain; they listen carefully, whether about digital arbitrage courts or regulation friendly interbank direct messaging with the Central bank.

“Right now we have a chicken-and-egg situation because we lack standards. We hope to have this in place by the end of 2017 and expect the first enterprise solutions by 2019,” said Pavel Khodalev.

Khodalev added that various government agencies have been looking at blockchain and cryptocurrency, citing a centre of excellence for the technology which is now two years old.

Khodalev also mentioned a proof-of-concept for applying power-of-attorney for a bank account. He pointed out that in Russia this can be issued by a bank or a notary, which can lead to costly collisions, but which a blockchain can streamline. A pilot is underway and this will go live once a law change is finalised in the middle of next year, insists Sberbank’s senior manager.

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