Blockchain Adoption

The head of Russia’s Sberbank has set tongues wagging after he emerged bullish about the future of blockchain adoption. CEO Herman Gref is forecasting industrial scale adoption in as little as one or two years.

Gref believes the technology is on the cusp of entering the industrial development stage of its evolution. Speaking to journalists this week, he said:

“The hype around the technology [blockchain] is now over, and the technology is entering the stage of industrial development. It needs a year or two to be implemented at the industrial scale.”

The head of Sberbank furthered that the global markets are “not yet ready” for large-scale blockchain adoption due to the “immaturity of the technology.” However, in under two years, the technology will be ready.

Sberbank and Blockchain

Since 2017, Sberbank, along with other major Russian banks and institutions, has been actively trialing blockchain. In December of that year, Sberbank partnered with Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service to store documents and transfer data on the blockchain.

Then, in June 2018, the bank partnered with Alfa Bank to test investment options with cryptocurrency for retail investors.

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Four months later, Sberbank became an advisor to Rosseti to help it trial blockchain solutions. At that time, the bank gave a time frame of three to five years for blockchain adoption.

But now, Gref is saying one-to-two years, indicating successful trials and a fast maturity.

Russia’s Finance and Blockchain

The Russian finance sector seems to be quickly moving towards the technology as another bank, the Russian branch of Raiffeisen Bank, announced its use of blockchain. The bank said it will first implement the technology to log digital mortgages and bank guarantees. However, it has plans to extend its use to other areas in the months to come.