The largest bank in Russia, Sberbank, goes ahead with the plan to launch its decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, preparing to test the product in a few months.
Sberbank expects to launch open trials of its DeFi platform by May 2023, as announced by Sber Blockchain Lab product director Konstantin Klimenko, the local news agency reported on Feb. 3; Interfax.
Sberbank’s upcoming DeFi platform, which is currently being tested in a private beta version, will be fully accessible by the end of April, allowing users to make the first trading transactions, Klimenko said.
The executive pointed out that The blockchain platform will be compatible with the Ethereum network, allowing clients to use leading wallet solutions such as MetaMask to move their assets. Klimenko also noted that users will be able to transfer their assets from other platforms.
The executive stated that Sberbank’s DeFi platform aspires to become a top-tier DeFi ecosystem in Russia. He also expressed his confidence that DeFi systems will be able to displace the traditional banking services market.
The announcement is in line with previously disclosed plans by Sberbank to enable DeFi applications on the bank’s infrastructure. In November 2022, Sberbank announced a set of new features for your own blockchain platform, including support for smart contracts and applications on the Ethereum network.
It seems that it is not clear how the next platform will be regulated, since Russia has not yet produced a regulation that deals with digital currencies. According to Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Russia will “definitively” adopt cryptocurrency regulation in 2023.
As we told you beforeSberbank has been struggling to launch some blockchain tools in recent years due to multiple registration delays by the Russian central bank. Originally hoping to launch its digital asset issuance platform in 2021, Sberbank finally received approval from the Bank of Russia in spring 2022. The Russian government is the majority shareholder of Sberbank, with a 50%+1 stake.
On February 2, Alfa Bank, one of the largest private banks in Russia, became the fourth financial institution in the country authorized to issue digital assets, along with Sberbank, state-backed tokenization platform Atomyze, and fintech company Lighthouse.
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