Russia's largest banking institution, Sberbank, is preparing to have its decentralized finance (DeFi) platform operational by May. Most state-owned banks in Russia plan to roll out the project in multiple steps, following a statement from Sberbank Blockchain Labs product director Konstantin Klimenko, Interfax reported on Feb. 3.
Speaking at the 7th Perm Economic Congress on Friday, Klimenko said that Sberbank’s mission is to make Russia a leading country in the DeFi business. He then commented on the highly anticipated project, saying it is in closed beta testing, with open testing set to begin in March.
"Starting March 1, we will enter the next phase, which is no longer beta testing, but open testing," Ho said. "At the end of April, the platform will be fully open and some commercial operations will be possible at that time."
Klimenko also mentioned that Sberbank’s DeFi platform will start by offering only compatibility with the MetaMask wallet. Additionally, they plan to integrate the project with the Ethereum blockchain, allowing for seamless transfer of smart contracts and other projects within the Ethereum ecosystem. Sberbank is Russia's largest bank and the third-largest in Europe, with fixed assets under management of $559 billion in 2021. That said, the launch of the DeFi platform represents only the latest foray into the blockchain space by Sberbank. In March 2022, the Moscow-based bank received a license from the Bank of Russia to operate as a digital asset exchange and to issue its own digital tokens.
The development comes three months after Sber Asset Management, the investment arm of Sberbank, announced the launch of the first blockchain-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Russia. The fund provides investors with exposure to a portfolio of leading blockchain companies such as Coinbase and Galaxy Digital, while protecting them from severe exposure to crypto market volatility.
In January 2022, the top U.S. bank released a report recommending an outright ban on cryptocurrencies and all related activities, such as mining, as it described cryptocurrencies as pyramid schemes driven solely by speculation. In fact, the Bank of Russia only grants digital exchange licenses to issue and trade digital assets other than cryptocurrencies.
