From Chubais to blockchain
The Kremlin has made many attempts to succeed technologically: here and Rosnano Mr. Chubais, and the innovation center Skolkovo, and the acquisition of shares in the company Hyperloop. After incidents of corruption or failure to start up projects, Western analysts say, oil-dependent Russians decided to make blockchain technology their priority.
After a series of failures and cases of embezzling funds, for example, in the Skolkovo innovation center, as some foreign analysts remind, the Russians decided to rely on the blockchain technology.
No, this is not the invention of Skolkovo scientists and the discovery of experts from Rosnano, and not even the theft of the idea by Russian hackers from Chinese hackers.
Blockchain is just a chain of transaction blocks. The name came to English, and then to the Russian language from a term that called the distributed cryptocurrency database “Bitcoin”. The feature of the blockchain is that any transaction is considered reliable and can be checked: each group of transactions is recorded in a block structure. The next block in the chain (chain) contains information about the previous block. The blocks are lined up in a single chain, containing a reference to all the operations performed in the database.
This does not mean that the blockchain must necessarily be associated with Bitcoin. If the second is a cryptocurrency, then the first is a tool for operations. And it is not necessarily used to support bitcoin operations. Blockchain uses any kind of transaction, and banks in the world have been interested in this technology since last year. It is known, for example, that in the fall of Bank of America for a couple of Microsoft said about starting the development of a financial blockchain platform.
Then the European Parliament thought about the implementation of elections to public authorities using the blockchain technology.
Russian, too, do not lag behind.
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation, in cooperation with major banks in the country, has created the Masterchain platform. Its goal is to increase the transparency and efficiency of existing financial systems. Interviewed RIA News" Russian bankers positively perceived the masterpiece launch.
Masterchain uses technology of distributed registries and allows you to make online payments, promptly confirming the relevance of data about the client or transaction. Also master can quickly create financial services. Finally, the technology accelerates the exchange of information between counterparties and provides an appropriate level of trust. In the future, it is planned to consider the use of the masterpiece prototype as an integral part of the financial infrastructure of the new generation, said Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova.
Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, Otkritie Bank, and others took part in the creation of the technology. In the Otkrytie Bank, a correspondent was told by the master that marks a new frontier in the field of technology: bank by another bank without the need to visit the office. In essence, the system provides a technological opportunity to record an event that one bank conducted an identification, and another can reuse and accept customer data through a digital channel (for example, through a mobile application). ”
True, in order to go into commercial operation, this decision will have to be amended in Russian legislation, it was recalled in Otkritie.
The head of the bank “Ugra” Alexey Nefedov agrees with his colleagues. He considers it premature to talk about the widespread introduction of the masterpiece: “We are closely watching how this project is developing, and this is certainly the first step towards the development of a new banking infrastructure. However, it is too early to talk about its widespread adoption. ”
Earlier, the agency reminds, the head of Sberbank, German Gref, has repeatedly spoken in favor of state support for the development of breakthrough technology blockchain in the Russian Federation.
Some foreign observers even believe that this technology will help Russia to eliminate the backlog from the developed economies of the world.
However, they express their opinions very carefully, listing previous Russian technological undertakings and failures, which were accompanied by the notorious corruption.
According to V. Bendella on the site "The CoinTelegraph", Russians can make distributed block chain technologies their top priority. It seems that lately the blockchain has hit “the top of the list of priorities” in Russia, says Bendella.
The creator of the Ethereum platform, V. Buterin (Vitalik Buterin) recently spoke with Putin himself. And the Russian president, according to analysts, endorsed the idea of using the blockchain in Russia. And no wonder: the Russians are looking for something that could give "one answer to many misfortunes that are plaguing Russia."
The Russian economy, the author recalls, is too dependent on oil, and this prevents the ruble from becoming a stable currency. The price of a barrel of oil fluctuates - the exchange rate of the Russian ruble also twitches.
To counter such a strong dependence on energy exports, Russians have long sought to diversify the economy and monopolize those new areas that have not yet been occupied by the dominant superpowers - China and the United States.
However, the author calls all the technical and technological experience that the Russians have gained so far as building “Potemkin villages”.
At 2007, the Russian government has opted for nanotechnology. The leadership of the state corporation Rosnano was received by the former head of the presidential administration, Anatoly Chubais.
“Over the years,” the columnist writes with irony, this company has invested “in various projects,” but so far nanotechnologists have nothing that Russia could rely on.
The next “major attempt” is the creation of the Skolkovo innovation center in Russia (2009 year). This is a kind of "world class" technological incubator. In Russia, it was thought that Skolkovo would become "one of Silicon Valley's main competitors in the field of IT, biotechnology, the space, nuclear industry and energy efficiency."
However, this “ambitious plan” faced a massive drain of personnel and corruption. “Incubator” got only the thirteenth place in the rating of “Compass Global Startup Ecosystem”, that is, it was far behind the leading innovation centers.
The Kremlin has not stopped looking for opportunities for a technological leap to bridge the gap between Russia and more developed economies. The search for ideas resumed when Putin became president again (in 2012 year).
For example, Russian investors have shown great interest in the “Hyperloop” project (a kind of train in a pipe that can reach speeds of 1000 kilometers per hour).
The investment fund of the Russian Federation has even acquired a small stake in Hyperloop. But this project did not include Russia in its list of priorities and chose to focus on other regions: for example, the United Arab Emirates.
And now - “Ethereum”.
Buterin offered Putin the possibility of using chains of transaction blocks in the Russian government and financial sectors in order to ensure its transparency and create anti-corruption opportunities. Putin, as V. Bendella suggests, seems to have approved this idea: after all, Russia could have become the first country to develop its own digital currency. “Perhaps,” writes the analyst, “this step is already in the process of being created.”
The blockchain, even in the form of a national experiment, could open that locked door, behind which the country will see advanced technologies and be able to use the momentum received.
“It would be interesting to know how Putin actually took Buterin’s idea outside the context of the Kremlin’s PR strategy and what will be done after their meeting,” the author reflects.
Of course, superpowers will closely monitor everything that Russia will begin to do - everything that can give it significant advantages, the analyst notes.
The assumptions of V. Bendella about the launch by Russians of both a special technology and their own cryptocurrency, which is in use with the help of the blockchain, did not appear from scratch.
The Central Bank is planning to create a national virtual currency in Russia, Deputy Head of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova told 2 in June.
“We’ll get to the virtual national currency. We have already begun to work on this, ”the official cites. RIA News".
“In fact, all regulators came to the conclusion that, of course, the national virtual currency should be done. This is the future. A matter of time, ”she explained.
Earlier, we will add the same Skorobogatova reported on the preparation by the Bank of Russia of a version of regulatory documents on the taxation of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. She stated this at a meeting of the working group in the State Duma.
“Our proposal is to refer to a digital product, to apply legislation with certain clarifications in terms of taxes, control and reporting as a digital product,” Skorobogatova explained. According to her, the proposal was supported by all ministries and departments.
“I think that in a month we will give you a version of regulatory documents, how and where it should be prescribed, if you support us, because the volumes are already large even in comparison with last year. People, if they do it, must pay money for it. And we must clearly understand how we control this activity, ”the deputy chairman of the Central Bank website said. "Bankir.ru".
In conclusion, we note that other countries are not sleeping either. Recently, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported that they are considering the possibility of creating an electronic analogue of the hryvnia using the blockchain technology. The corresponding opportunity is considered in the framework of the project “Cashless economy” (“Economy without cash”). “The possibilities of using the blockchain technology for the introduction of an innovative, highly secure, efficient and flexible platform designed to meet the needs of the payment market of the country and solve problematic issues in the field of cashless funds in Ukraine are analyzed. Now the NBU is working on the possibility of creating such a software and technological solution ", - quotes the message of the National Bank RBC.
As for the superpowers mentioned by V. Bendella, the People’s Bank of China is also considering the possibility of launching its own cryptocurrency. Trial steps in this direction have already been taken, recalls vestifinance.ru. On the same bitcoin walking in China imposed restrictions.
Initially, we note, Bitcoin was conceived as a “decentralized” currency: there is no single administrator over it. It seems that the states decided to take the idea into their hands: “centralize” cryptocurrencies and impose taxes. The idea of a single global cryptocurrency can thus be buried: each state wants to “release” its own virtual money.
After a series of failures and cases of embezzling funds, for example, in the Skolkovo innovation center, as some foreign analysts remind, the Russians decided to rely on the blockchain technology.
No, this is not the invention of Skolkovo scientists and the discovery of experts from Rosnano, and not even the theft of the idea by Russian hackers from Chinese hackers.
Blockchain is just a chain of transaction blocks. The name came to English, and then to the Russian language from a term that called the distributed cryptocurrency database “Bitcoin”. The feature of the blockchain is that any transaction is considered reliable and can be checked: each group of transactions is recorded in a block structure. The next block in the chain (chain) contains information about the previous block. The blocks are lined up in a single chain, containing a reference to all the operations performed in the database.
This does not mean that the blockchain must necessarily be associated with Bitcoin. If the second is a cryptocurrency, then the first is a tool for operations. And it is not necessarily used to support bitcoin operations. Blockchain uses any kind of transaction, and banks in the world have been interested in this technology since last year. It is known, for example, that in the fall of Bank of America for a couple of Microsoft said about starting the development of a financial blockchain platform.
Then the European Parliament thought about the implementation of elections to public authorities using the blockchain technology.
Russian, too, do not lag behind.
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation, in cooperation with major banks in the country, has created the Masterchain platform. Its goal is to increase the transparency and efficiency of existing financial systems. Interviewed RIA News" Russian bankers positively perceived the masterpiece launch.
Masterchain uses technology of distributed registries and allows you to make online payments, promptly confirming the relevance of data about the client or transaction. Also master can quickly create financial services. Finally, the technology accelerates the exchange of information between counterparties and provides an appropriate level of trust. In the future, it is planned to consider the use of the masterpiece prototype as an integral part of the financial infrastructure of the new generation, said Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova.
Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, Otkritie Bank, and others took part in the creation of the technology. In the Otkrytie Bank, a correspondent was told by the master that marks a new frontier in the field of technology: bank by another bank without the need to visit the office. In essence, the system provides a technological opportunity to record an event that one bank conducted an identification, and another can reuse and accept customer data through a digital channel (for example, through a mobile application). ”
True, in order to go into commercial operation, this decision will have to be amended in Russian legislation, it was recalled in Otkritie.
The head of the bank “Ugra” Alexey Nefedov agrees with his colleagues. He considers it premature to talk about the widespread introduction of the masterpiece: “We are closely watching how this project is developing, and this is certainly the first step towards the development of a new banking infrastructure. However, it is too early to talk about its widespread adoption. ”
Earlier, the agency reminds, the head of Sberbank, German Gref, has repeatedly spoken in favor of state support for the development of breakthrough technology blockchain in the Russian Federation.
Some foreign observers even believe that this technology will help Russia to eliminate the backlog from the developed economies of the world.
However, they express their opinions very carefully, listing previous Russian technological undertakings and failures, which were accompanied by the notorious corruption.
According to V. Bendella on the site "The CoinTelegraph", Russians can make distributed block chain technologies their top priority. It seems that lately the blockchain has hit “the top of the list of priorities” in Russia, says Bendella.
The creator of the Ethereum platform, V. Buterin (Vitalik Buterin) recently spoke with Putin himself. And the Russian president, according to analysts, endorsed the idea of using the blockchain in Russia. And no wonder: the Russians are looking for something that could give "one answer to many misfortunes that are plaguing Russia."
The Russian economy, the author recalls, is too dependent on oil, and this prevents the ruble from becoming a stable currency. The price of a barrel of oil fluctuates - the exchange rate of the Russian ruble also twitches.
To counter such a strong dependence on energy exports, Russians have long sought to diversify the economy and monopolize those new areas that have not yet been occupied by the dominant superpowers - China and the United States.
However, the author calls all the technical and technological experience that the Russians have gained so far as building “Potemkin villages”.
At 2007, the Russian government has opted for nanotechnology. The leadership of the state corporation Rosnano was received by the former head of the presidential administration, Anatoly Chubais.
“Over the years,” the columnist writes with irony, this company has invested “in various projects,” but so far nanotechnologists have nothing that Russia could rely on.
The next “major attempt” is the creation of the Skolkovo innovation center in Russia (2009 year). This is a kind of "world class" technological incubator. In Russia, it was thought that Skolkovo would become "one of Silicon Valley's main competitors in the field of IT, biotechnology, the space, nuclear industry and energy efficiency."
However, this “ambitious plan” faced a massive drain of personnel and corruption. “Incubator” got only the thirteenth place in the rating of “Compass Global Startup Ecosystem”, that is, it was far behind the leading innovation centers.
The Kremlin has not stopped looking for opportunities for a technological leap to bridge the gap between Russia and more developed economies. The search for ideas resumed when Putin became president again (in 2012 year).
For example, Russian investors have shown great interest in the “Hyperloop” project (a kind of train in a pipe that can reach speeds of 1000 kilometers per hour).
The investment fund of the Russian Federation has even acquired a small stake in Hyperloop. But this project did not include Russia in its list of priorities and chose to focus on other regions: for example, the United Arab Emirates.
And now - “Ethereum”.
Buterin offered Putin the possibility of using chains of transaction blocks in the Russian government and financial sectors in order to ensure its transparency and create anti-corruption opportunities. Putin, as V. Bendella suggests, seems to have approved this idea: after all, Russia could have become the first country to develop its own digital currency. “Perhaps,” writes the analyst, “this step is already in the process of being created.”
The blockchain, even in the form of a national experiment, could open that locked door, behind which the country will see advanced technologies and be able to use the momentum received.
“It would be interesting to know how Putin actually took Buterin’s idea outside the context of the Kremlin’s PR strategy and what will be done after their meeting,” the author reflects.
Of course, superpowers will closely monitor everything that Russia will begin to do - everything that can give it significant advantages, the analyst notes.
The assumptions of V. Bendella about the launch by Russians of both a special technology and their own cryptocurrency, which is in use with the help of the blockchain, did not appear from scratch.
The Central Bank is planning to create a national virtual currency in Russia, Deputy Head of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova told 2 in June.
“We’ll get to the virtual national currency. We have already begun to work on this, ”the official cites. RIA News".
“In fact, all regulators came to the conclusion that, of course, the national virtual currency should be done. This is the future. A matter of time, ”she explained.
Earlier, we will add the same Skorobogatova reported on the preparation by the Bank of Russia of a version of regulatory documents on the taxation of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. She stated this at a meeting of the working group in the State Duma.
“Our proposal is to refer to a digital product, to apply legislation with certain clarifications in terms of taxes, control and reporting as a digital product,” Skorobogatova explained. According to her, the proposal was supported by all ministries and departments.
“I think that in a month we will give you a version of regulatory documents, how and where it should be prescribed, if you support us, because the volumes are already large even in comparison with last year. People, if they do it, must pay money for it. And we must clearly understand how we control this activity, ”the deputy chairman of the Central Bank website said. "Bankir.ru".
In conclusion, we note that other countries are not sleeping either. Recently, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported that they are considering the possibility of creating an electronic analogue of the hryvnia using the blockchain technology. The corresponding opportunity is considered in the framework of the project “Cashless economy” (“Economy without cash”). “The possibilities of using the blockchain technology for the introduction of an innovative, highly secure, efficient and flexible platform designed to meet the needs of the payment market of the country and solve problematic issues in the field of cashless funds in Ukraine are analyzed. Now the NBU is working on the possibility of creating such a software and technological solution ", - quotes the message of the National Bank RBC.
As for the superpowers mentioned by V. Bendella, the People’s Bank of China is also considering the possibility of launching its own cryptocurrency. Trial steps in this direction have already been taken, recalls vestifinance.ru. On the same bitcoin walking in China imposed restrictions.
Initially, we note, Bitcoin was conceived as a “decentralized” currency: there is no single administrator over it. It seems that the states decided to take the idea into their hands: “centralize” cryptocurrencies and impose taxes. The idea of a single global cryptocurrency can thus be buried: each state wants to “release” its own virtual money.
Observed and commented on Oleg Chuvakin
- especially for topwar.ru
- especially for topwar.ru
Information