Russia to upgrade its SWIFT alternative with blockchain tech

The Russian authorities are currently choosing a blockchain platform on which the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) will work in the future. The preliminary date of the start of this new version is 2019, but it may easily be postponed.

There are some indications that Ethereum is considered as one of the variants, but this information has not been verified by anyone - reports cite anonymous sources with close ties to the Bank of Russia. Another variant is to use the platform developed in Russia, but there are no clarifications on what company or expert may be behind it.

The SPFS was first launched in 2014 as a reserve alternative for the international payments system called SWIFT after the government of Russia realized that the European Union and the United States may actually be considering disabling this system in response to what happened in Crimea and Ukraine. Sources of the press explain the need for this blockchain upgrade by telling that this would increase the competitiveness of the SPFS in comparison to the SWIFT network so that banks don’t notice anything in case one day the latter is turned off.

Image: NamePros