Russia’s Sberbank Considers Joining Blockchain Consortium

Rage Comment : Russia has always been very resistant to digital currency, but the government has expressed support for the underlying blockchain technology. Some studies have analyzed that this is due to the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries; and Russia's largest financial institution Sberbank was also rejected by the R3CEV blockchain alliance for this reason. Therefore, in April, Russian payment service company Qiwi and international consulting company Accenture announced the establishment of their own blockchain alliance, which provided conditions for Sberbank to participate in a large-scale blockchain exploration. It is reported that if the alliance can achieve the standardization of blockchain technology, it will receive strong support from the government.

Translation: Annie_Xu

Sberbank, one of Russia’s largest financial institutions, is considering joining a domestic banking alliance to participate in blockchain technology research.

In April, Russian payment service company Qiwi and international consulting firm Accenture announced plans to form a blockchain alliance. According to Russian state news agency TASS, the banks that will join the alliance include B&N Bank, MDM Bank, Bank of Khanty-Mansiysk and Tinkoff Bank.

German Gref

Last week Sberbank President German Gref said the alliance was at an early stage.

"We are discussing with the central bank. If the central bank and all participants agree, we will definitely join. We are currently in active communication."

Sberbank’s announcement comes amid an ambitious strategy by Russian financial firms to develop blockchain technology.

For example, Qiwi recently said that it will transition to a blockchain settlement system within five years. In addition, Russia's only central securities depository, the National Settlement Depository, is also testing the application of blockchain technology in its internal processes.