Sberbank ( SBER.MM ), the largest lender in Russia, recently announced its plans of launching a decentralized finance platform within the next few months. Sberbank claims that it wants to make the Russian DeFi system the best in the world, to which end it is currently beta testing its own platform. Based on distributed ledger (blockchain) technology, decentralized finance platforms enable users to conduct traditional banking transactions like investing, saving, and lending. Various traditional financial institutions across the globe are actively investigating how to enter the burgeoning sector and integrate DeFi technology into their own existing regulated operations. According to Konstantin Klimenko, Head of Products at the blockchain branch of Sberbank, the lender shall begin open testing of its platform in March and hopes to commence commercial operations by the end of April. Klimenko also indicated that the DeFi platform would be built on the Ethereum blockchain, a popular choice by many. Advocates claim that the new platform could significantly decrease banking costs and even replace traditional banks, while detractors believe it has few real-world applications and suffers from the same drawbacks as crypto in general including lack of regulation and vulnerability to money laundering and other kinds of fraudulent activities.
