Sberbank has organized the Russian banking industry’s first-ever pilot blockchain payment transaction. The transaction used the IBM Blockchain Platform on the basis of HyperLedger Fabric.

According to press service of the bank, Sberbank’s partners and participants in the pilot were MegaFon, MegaLabs (subsidiary of MegaFon-Banks.am), Alfa-Bank, and IBM.

16.10.2017 | 09:16 Russia creates the first blockchain consortium

“Sberbank CIB organized the process of transferring money from the payer to the receiver using blockchain technology. Sberbank’s IT infrastructure was used to set up a service for establishing the uniform transaction procedure, the certification centre of the network, and a web app for the client with a personal account section. In addition, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank hosted the nodes of the blockchain network. The technological process which was created will serve as the primary scenario for developing a new settlement function,” the bank’s statement reads.

According to Managing Director of Sberbank CIB Stella Kudachkina, the advantage of using this technology when performing settlements is the high speed at which transfers are made: after the money is sent the transaction is recorded on the receiver’s account almost instantly, in real time, unlike the traditional system that is used to make transfers.

“MegaFon supported the initiative of this blockchain payment testing, which is yet another proof of the company’s commitment to maintain its leadership in the development of digital economy in Russia,” Chief Financial Officer at MegaFon Gevork Vermishyan noted.


The partner of Fintech section is