BlocksInform
Russia's largest bank, sberbank, is going ahead with the plan to launch its decentralized financial platform (challenge), getting ready to test the product in a few months.
Sberbank expects to launch open trials of its DeFi platform by May 2023, Sber’s Blockchain Lab product director Konstantin Klimenko announced, the local news agency Interfax reported on Feb. 3.
Currently being tested in private beta, Sberbank’s upcoming DeFi platform will be fully open by the end of April, enabling users to conduct the first commercial transactions, Klimenko said.
The executive noted that the blockchain platform will be compatible with the ethereum blockchain, enabling clients to use large portfolios, like metamask, to move their assets. Klimenko further noted that users can transfer their assets from other platforms.
The blockchain executive has declared that the challenge platform sberbank aims to become an ecosystem of first challenge in Russia. He also expressed confidence in the fact that challenging systems can shift the traditional banking market.
The announcement falls within the framework of the already announced plans of sberbank to allow challenging applications on the infrastructure of the bank. In November 2022, Sberbank announced a set of new features for its proprietary blockchain platform, including compatibility with smart contracts and applications on the Ethereum network.
It appears to be difficult to know how the next platform will be regulated because Russia is still coming with the regulation of digital currency. According to anatoly aksakov, the head of the Duma committee on the financial market, Russia is "definitely" going to adopt crypto regulation in 2023.
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As previously reported, Sberbank was struggling to launch some blockchain tools over the past few years due to multiple delays of registration by the Russian central bank. Originally expecting to launch its digital asset issuance platform in 2021, Sberbank eventually received the Bank of Russia’s approval in spring 2022. The Government of Russia is the majority shareholder in Sberbank, owning 50% 1 share.
On Feb. 2, Alfa Bank, one of the largest private banks in Russia, became the fourth financial institution in the country allowed to issue digital assets alongside Sberbank, the state-backed tokenization platform Atomyze and fintech company Lighthouse.
