Russian financial giant Sberbank is focusing on developing blockchain and artificial intelligence, one of its executives said.
The banker believes that the combination of the two will form the core of the organization's business as competition from decentralized finance arises in the future.
Sberbank is betting on blockchain and AI technology
Sber, Russia's largest bank by assets, known as Sberbank, sees blockchain technology as the future of financial markets and is actively developing it.
Alexander Vedyahin, First Vice-Chairman of the Management Board, made the announcement in an interview on Russian television and further commented:
“This is the future of our business. Imagine a combination of AI and blockchain, where I buy something and then decide to sell something. The decision is made by AI, and the buy and sell is based on blockchain technology, smart contracts, and their execution. That’s it.”
“This means that DAOs will appear in the near future,” he added in a conversation with RT, hinting that decentralized autonomous organizations could soon appear on the Russian market, emphasizing that such organizations will conduct business independently.
Vedyakin argues that the new economy is based on the symbiosis of artificial intelligence and blockchain, which explains Sberbank's focus on developing these two areas.
At the same time, Subah made a distinction between blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, elaborating:
“When it comes to cryptocurrencies, you have to be very careful because there is a lot of cybercrime in this space.”
The banker, also quoted by Russian online news outlet Gazeta.ru, argued that private blockchains are a more secure technology because they are operated within companies in conjunction with trusted partners.
Sber is leading the way in Russia's digital finance sector
The majority state-owned Sberbank was once the largest bank in the Russian Federation as well as many other parts of the region.
The Russian giant had a significant presence across Central and Eastern Europe until it withdrew as a result of sanctions imposed by Western countries over the Ukraine war.
Since rebranding to Sber in 2020, the Moscow-based banking and finance company has invested heavily in digital services and is now the leader in digital finance in Russia.
This spring, Sberbank became one of the first companies to offer such products on the Russian market, shortly after Russia's central bank allowed the offering of crypto derivatives to qualified investors in May.
In early September, Sber announced the launch of a permanent digital financial asset (DFA), as defined by Russian law, based on a basket of the two leading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
The bank reported in October that it had raised 1.3 billion rubles ($16 million) in the sale of DFAs based on bonds and BTC and ETH indexes, as well as DFAs based on five tokens: SOL, TRX, AVAX and BNB, recording high demand for such products.
Russia does not yet comprehensively regulate cryptocurrency investment, as the current law, the Law on Digital Financial Assets, does not cover decentralized digital currencies like Bitcoin. Currently, they are only possible within the framework of a very limited “experimental legal regime” (ELR).
The Bank of Russia recently indicated that it expects a special law to legalize investment in crypto assets outside the ELR region to be adopted by the Russian parliament in 2026.
However, these are likely to remain in the narrow category of “highly qualified” investors. This status is granted based on income and previous financial investments.
