In 2019, the Russian central bank plans to transfer country-specific version of the SWIFT application, which are called SPFS payments, to the blockchain in 2019.
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To Use Blockchain to Initiate Blockchain Swift
One of the local news source, Izvestiya, reported on May 4 that a source close to the Bank of Russia is on the verge of deciding how to interpret and use blockchain as a solution to send payments.
Two sources that are linked to the bank confirmed these plans. They say they will either find a new unique method for this process, or they will use the existing option, most probably, Ethereum.
In International Standards Organization (ISO) meeting in Tokyo in 2017, an employee from the country’s security service, FSB, Grigory Marshalko announced that Americans own the Internet, but blockchain technology “will belong” to Russia.
This new move by Russia proves the extreme interest of the country for using blockchain technology.
SWIFT is Less Reliable
An analyst from Izvestiya stated that adding this technology to SPFS would make the system more reliable than using SWIFT alone. This is an important point since SWIFT has been shaken by many hacking security concerns over the past few years.
A senior official of the Bank BKF commented on the issue: “Implementing blockchain technology undoubtedly raises the level of protection for SPFS in relation to hacker attacks.”
The current estimated cost per transaction using SPFS is around $0.03. The savings saved by switching to blockchain will not be known until the completion of a design that will be used takes place.
Moscow sees different application uses for blockchain. Kremlin even plans to exercise regulations on cryptocurrency in July 2018.
