Blockchain activities in RussiaMaksim ShevchenkoAlexey UrivskiyRussian Technical Committee for Standardization TC 26
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
General overview
Lack of desired level of legal framework, including
legal significance
Standard solutions and cross-border exchange
Issues to solve (Russia’s view)
Key management infrastructure
Consensus protocols
Security
Major projects are now at the preliminary steps
Russian experts expect to see commercial systems in 1,5 – 2 year period
Main area to real implementation – financial sector
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
Prohibit vs StudyA lot of discussion about blockchain in general and Bitcoin in particular since 2008-2009: Initial discussion on cryptocurrencies and their
legislative regulation 1st initiative of the Ministry of Finance: PROHIBIT
o penaltieso stop company activitieso block cryptocurrencies turnover
2nd step: STUDYo Parliament of Russiao National Bank and the financial communityo Technical Committee for Standardization
TC 26 “Cryptography and security mechanisms”
Newtechnology
Risks
ThreatsInnovation
Benefits
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
Lower House of the Russian Parliament 2016: WG on cryptocurrencies turnover,
blockchain and legislative regulation:o transactions verification;o legal field for smart contracts;o activity licenses for companies using
blockchain;o technology standardization and
certification. Legislative initiatives by the end of 2017 April 2017 Forum
“Blockchain: Business – Government dialogue”
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
Central Bank of RussiaPrerequisites of the interest
Needs to offer new financial services and shortcut mediators number
Security issues raised by the increasing complexity of traditional systems
Lack of trust between market players. National bank have to moderate all activities
FinTech Association:
National Bank + leading Russian Banks
Goal: developing & implementation of new financial technologies
Projects (blockchain and distributed ledger based):
o Financial Messages Exchange System
o MASTERCHAIN
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
MASTERCHAINBlockchain-based unified network to exchange and store financial data.
Masterchain will allow financial market players to unite and provide them the infrastructure for effective and rapid implementation of new innovative financial services.
Planned application: Platform and technical features
• Financial messaging• No third party involved
transactions• Mortgage transactions
• Etherium• Basic and Color tokens• API • Certified Crypto libraries
implementation
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
Financial market players activityReference Short description Known limitations
Qiwi qiwi.com Blockchain based processing
• Testing stage
• Private blockchain for each system
• No interoperability
Otkritie Bank open.ru Know your client (KYC) without transferring personal data
Sberbank sberbank.com
Several prototypes to control integrity and deal docs availability at the specific time. Hashes are stored in blockchain system
Alfa-bank alfabank.com
Several prototypes to control integrity and deal docs availability at the specific time. Hashes are stored in blockchain system
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
ExamplesFederal Antimonopoly Service
Electronic document managementGoal: To rise up the speed. Robustness and quality of the service during document managementStatus: Study and technology testing.
RosreestrThe Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography
Realty deals registration in blockchain systems
Status: Research started in March 2017
VTB BankShareholders ledger
Goal: Unified System to store records about shareholders of companies in the distributed ledger
Status: Prototyping.
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
Examples (cont.)Saint Petersburg University of the Information technology, mechanics and optics, www.itmo.ru
Autonomous system to control flying drones
Based on Ethereum
Goal: To provide drones as a service
Party ROSTAhttp://blockchain.rost.ru
Develop network area for social activity
Cryptocurrency “Upcoins” is used to pay for loyality or services
Counterfeit protection
Systems for Counterfeit protection are implemented, e.g. Alcohol and Furs
Blockchain and distributed ledger technology could be used to:
- log all significant steps of product lifecycle - build transparent supply chain- involve all participants in one system (manufacturer, end-user, distributor, customs, taxes authorities, etc.)
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
Examples (cont.)Siberian Chervonets cryptocurrency – SIB
Based on hash-function Streebog –the Russian national standard
More than 5200 master-nodes in the network –the second largest network after Bitcoin
SIB/BTC trade on Bittrex
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
Conclusion Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies show prospects
to be useful for various applications
Detailed research is needed to investigate the real advantages and benefits, especially on non-financial markets
There are some critical issues to be solved to make these technologies successful worldwide:
o terminology
o basic aspects of operation, use cases, interoperability, etc.
o developing standards and reference solutions
o security
©2017 Russian Technical Committee TC 26
Technical Committee for Standardization TC 26 “Cryptography and security mechanisms”
BlockchainDeveloping
ISO / TC 307
TC 26 WG “Blockchain and distributed ledger security”:
Terminology / Security / Technology standardization in general
6th Workshop on Current Trends in CryptologyDiscussion “Blockchain: market expectations and experts’ opinions”June 5-7, Saint Petersburg, Russia, www.ctcrypt.ru
©2016 infoTeCS
Thank you!