Blockchain Adoption in Russia Might Take Decade - Sberbank CEO

Published on 22 December 2017 by Cryptovest Staff

Russia would need 8 to 10 years to adopt blockchain technology on a mass scale, according to Herman Gref, CEO of Sberbank. The head of Russia’s biggest lender provided the estimate during a talk with employees on Thursday.

“If we talk about Russia, we have the largest number of implemented projects concerning blockchain. [However], they are all in the experimental mode. We are experimenting a lot. Maybe in 2018, we will be able to introduce some products on a large scale. The blockchain technology is one of our tricks. I estimate the implementation horizon of the technology in 8-10 years,” he said.

Earlier that day, Gref said in an interview with TV channel Russia 24 that Russia was not ready yet for the commercial application of blockchain.

“So far we have been involved in 20 different projects, but they are still experimental in nature. The technology is not yet ready for commercial implementation,” he noted.

Gref stressed that blockchain was a promising technology and worthy of investing in. It has potential on different levels, including its use to improve government processes.

Besides financial investments, the technology is in need of intellectual investments as well, the CEO noted. Gref said the bank had signed deals with 12 universities for the education of specialists in areas such as fintech, data science, and blockchain. He concluded by saying that blockchain will have an impact on everyone in Russia.

Sberbank was involved in a blockchain pilot that succeeded in carrying out the first transaction in Russia using distributed ledger technology. The experiment also included Russian companies MegaFon and MegaLabs and was conducted on the platform provided by IBM.

In mid-October, Sberbank joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), which studies ways to benefit from blockchain use cases based on the Ethereum platform. Lev Khasis, first deputy chairman of Sberbank, said at the time the deal was a significant step towards achieving the lender’s technology objectives. It should be noted that Sberbank is the first Ethereum partner in Russia.

EEA is an international entity that includes corporate giants like JPMorgan Chase & Co, UBS, Microsoft, ING, Credit Swiss, CME Group, Intel, and Accenture.