Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, has added support for Ethereum and EVM-compatible self-custodial wallet MetaMask on its digital asset issuance platform.

Sberbank Adopts Ethereum and MetaMask

Sberbank gained regulatory approval from Russia’s central bank in March to operate its blockchain infrastructure in compliance with local legislation, which subjects all centralised digital asset issuers in the region to obtain licences with the financial watchdog.

The bank conducted its first Digital Financial Assets (DFAs) in mid-July as it prepares to finalise the development of the proprietary protocol. At launch, the crypto project will allow other corporate entities to mint digital assets and invest in the emerging economy using Russia’s national currency.

Sberbank has now expanded the capabilities of the protocol through the incorporation of MetaMask and the inclusion of Ethereum smart contract compatibility. The integration will allow users to interact with tokens and decentralised applications (dApps) on the bank’s crypto issuance platform.

Giving Users Access to DeFi

The financial institution also added other features to the platform to allow smart contract interoperability between decentralised finance (DeFi) applications and its blockchain.

Alexander Nam, head of Sber Blockchain Lab, the bank’s crypto division, said that the bank works closely with other software developers and partner companies to oversee the project.

“Sber Blockchain Lab works closely with external developers and partner companies, and I am glad that our community will be able to run DeFi applications on Sber’s infrastructure,” said Alexander Nam, leader of the Blockchain Lab.”

He further disclosed that the new features will help the bank “to unite developers, corporations and financial institutions to explore practical business applications of blockchain, Web 3 and decentralised finance.”

Sberbank, which sold 43% of its shares last month to Croatian food manufacturer and retailer Fortenova, has been actively engaging with the crypto industry since 2021 after it filed with the Bank of Russia to launch its stablecoin, Sbercoin.

（By William A. Frederick）