Russia’s largest bank, Sber, has massive plans for blockchain and its settlement token, often referred to as Sbercoin. The tokenized bank money sits at the heart of a plan to build an open blockchain ecosystem where developers can build new products and business models, all settled in digital fiat money. Despite the big ambitions, the question remains whether the central bank will grant approval.
“We could be the very first in the world (to launch an) open platform where you can deploy and execute smart contracts that will settle in (tokenized) fiat currency. And behind that platform is not a fintech startup, but the largest bank in the country,” said Oleg Abdrashitov, the head of Sberbank’s Blockchain Lab. The Lab is one of several, including for AI, robotics, and augmented reality, to transform the state-controlled bank into a technology company.
Abdrashitov resisted the label Sbercoin and emphasized that it is not a stablecoin. “The coins that you see on the platform, they’re not mined. They’re not exactly minted,” said Abdrashitov. “It’s just another representation of the money that our clients have with the bank.”
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