Blockchain for those who don’t trust each other

In August 2017, the FinTech association plans to issue the white paper on Masterchain platform. This platform is developed together with the Central Bank of Russian Federation and members of Financial Technology Development Association (AFT). The white paper is prepared by the members of the work group focused on distributed ledger technology by FinTech Association, the document contains full description of designation and possible spheres of applications of the Masterchain platform, as well as the info on the technical aspects of the platform operations.

Masterchain is a blockchain for Russian financial market, a trusted environment for exchange of data and administrative issues between the parties that do not trust each other. This is the unified network of exchange, storing various data on financial and other deals via blockchain technology. The platform is based on modified Ethereum protocol.

“We deem important transparency and community feedback on what we are working on. The Masterchain white paper publication is the first step on the way to making our work as open as possible, to let the wide range of people who are interested in the work of the Association and Masterchain development know what we are doing, what’s in our plans. This step gives the experts and developers outside the AFT an opportunity to comment and leave notes on improvement, to assess the approaches proposed for better implementation of the platform. We intend to release the white paper and thus let everyone know what we are going to do and how we are going to do it,” comments Alexei Arkhipov, the chief DLT division manager in AFT.

The fundamental requirement of Masterchain is the necessity of such a market solution where all parties can implement its projects via distributed ledger (blockchain) in the sphere compliant to Russian legislation, with the use of modern solutions, Russian cryptographical achievements, and previously established institutions of banks and other financial organizations.

Currently, the Fintech DLT division tests four selected cases based on Masterchain platform: the decentralized deposit system of loans accounting – Sberbank; KYC (Know Your Customer) – Bank Otkrytie; electronic bank guarantees – VTB Bank; digital letter of credit – Alfa-Bank.

All Masterchain project are being developed to lower the economic costs, prevent cybercrime, minimize the paper work and to create a secure, trusted environment for Russian market.

Because of the basic principles of the platform, no special data connected with trade secrets or personal data is required to store there, there is a room for future scaling of the platform, it supports smart contracts, has no technological need in any intermediaries and no single point of failure. This approach provides the overall platform security and its future development, as many business processes will be possible to implement via Masterchain.