Sberbank is working with Russian government on blockchain To continue providing news and award winning journalism, we rely on advertising revenue. To continue reading, please turn off your ad blocker or whitelist us . The Russian government is reportedly teaming up with the country’s largest financial institution to launch a pilot programme testing how the decentralised nature of blockchain technology can be utilised to aid the exchange of sensitive documents. The government department in question, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS), is charged with managing regulation around pricing of goods and services in the country alongside "investments in the business entities of strategic importance for the Russian national defence and state security." Why advertise with us Announcing a partnership with Sberbank, which operates globally and has over 17,000 branches domestically, the project – dubbed Digital Ecosystem – will aim to analyse the potential of increasing the speed, reliability and quality of interaction during document exchanges. At the time of writing, the pair have reportedly designed and implemented an "electronic interaction model" that allows documents to be transferred and stored in encrypted format while providing a system that allows for the signing of documents using electronic signatures. For a country – and a government – that has been historically on-the-fence about the embrace of blockchain, and especially virtual currencies like Bitcoin, it is a welcome sign of progress. The project will also involve a number of Russian companies, including Aeroflot, Russian Coal, and ForteInvest. Andrey Tsarikovsky, deputy-head of FAS, said: This decentralising approach cuts costs because data processing centres are not required and the requirements for equipment protection are lowered. It is noteworthy that Russia is one of the first countries in the world where the state and market participants are looking at these innovations as a way to simplify business […]
