'Disappointed' by Central Bank-Backed Blockchain, Russia's Largest Bank Eyes Alternatives

Masterchain, a blockchain project backed by Russia's central bank, is falling behind on its goals two years after inception.

The bank is looking to shift its work to other enterprise platforms, Sberbank's blockchain lab head said.

Masterchain, the bank blockchain project developed under the auspices of the Russian central bank, is missing the mark, the project's key participant told CoinDesk.

Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, has decided to wind down its participation in Masterchain, said Oleg Abdrashitov, head of the institution's blockchain lab.

Calling the system inefficient, insecure and slow, Abdrashitov said his bank will shift its blockchain work to other, more widely used enterprise platforms.

"Masterchain does not satisfy the requirements for Sberbank's use cases, so for all future exploration we will use enterprise blockchain platforms such as Hyperledger Fabric or Quorum," Abdrashitov said.

Masterchain was launched in 2017 by the FinTech Association - an entity itself founded that year by the Bank of Russia, the country's central bank.

The blockchain project had the support of the five largest banks in the country: Sberbank, Alfa Bank, VTB, Raiffeisenbank Russia and Otkritie.

Neither the Bank of Russia nor the AFT responded to requests for comment by press time.

Oleg Abdrashitov clarified that Sberbank will not quit the Masterchain project, but will use other platforms for the future blockchain tech exploration.