Masterchain Russian National Blockchain Network

Logotia in 2023

Masterchain is the Russian national blockchain network that is designed to transfer digital values ​ ​ and information about them between participants. It uses the code base of the Ethereum blockchain network, but has been finalized taking into account the requirements for Russian cryptography, the user identification process and the secure scaling process.

The key principles of building the Masterchain are:

• The Masterchain Distributed Register does not store data requiring a special storage mode (data protected by trade secrets, personal data, secret data, etc.)
• Legal significance (within the Russian jurisdiction) of the information processed at Masterchain
• No technical need for trusted intermediaries
• Support for programmable contracts (smart contracts)
• No single point of failure
• Independent accounting of resources spent by participants to support system operation
• Scalability (by number of participants and transactions)

The Masterchain creation plan is open and available from the link.

Masterchain is engaged in the development of the platform. The FinTech Association Association includes:,, Bank of Russia Sberbank bank,,,, VTB,, Alfa-Bank,, Gazprombank Otkritie Bank"" and National Payment Card System, KIWI Bank AK BARS Bank RNKO Payment CenterTinkoff Bank Raiffeisen Bank associate members:,,,,, "MB B&N Bank SKB-Bank Sovcombank Innovation Promsvyazbank," and MTS PJSC. Rostelecom Vnesheconombank (VEB)

Functionality

According to Alexei Arkhipov, head of the department for the development of distributed register technology (blockchain) of the FinTech Association, the main functionality of the Mastrachein platform is as follows^[1]

• mechanism of allocation of internal calculation units (tokens), registration of tokenization objects;
• a mechanism of accounts (accounts) providing transaction addressing, identification, verification and authorization of its participants, and the possibility of depositing tokens;
• Identification of participant accounts based on participants' public keys
• execution of a smart contract;
• mechanisms for the controlled transfer or exchange of ownership rights to financial instruments and assets (tokenization objects) with the implementation of appropriate accounting;
• mechanisms for supporting payment for the services of participants who support the network, as well as mechanisms for charging fees from transaction initiators.

Blockchain vs traditional systems: Which is safer?

The security issue is one of the key for banks in the process of introducing new technologies. Blockchain can be considered a secure, reliable, transparent technology. It is based on the use of an electronic signature (EP) and cryptographic information protection tools (CIPF), which require the passage of^[2] security certification procedures^[3].

The Masterchain blockchain platform, on which banking services are implemented, in the summer of 2019 was at the final stage of certification by the FSB of the Russian Federation for CIPF requirements - and this is an unprecedented experience for Russia in certifying systems of this class. Masterchain is a secure by design system with several levels of protection, starting with ensuring the protection of all network connections and including the protection of the data itself. All confidential data is stored in a separate storage of the user, access to which is provided through the means of EP, and GOST cryptography is used to ensure security. Also, Masterchain has developed a network access control system that public blockchain platforms do not have - this is another important level of protection. It is practically impossible to penetrate such a well-protected system from outside, so threats can come mainly from intruders within an organization, its information systems. But Russian companies have considerable experience in combating such threats, in particular, through employee inspections, information security monitoring, delineation of access to data, etc.

Speaking of possible vulnerabilities, one cannot fail to mention smart contracts (smart contracts) - a fairly new tool for the banking sector. In fact, this is compiled code in the blockchain. A number of cases are known ICO with errors in the code of smart contracts of public networks, however, confirmation of security in closed networks, such as Masterchain, is also provided in compliance with mandatory procedures for CIPF certification.

There are several attack vectors. First, to the logic of smart contracts itself, when in fact the criminal is trying to execute a smart contract that contains a fraudulent transaction. A striking example is an attack on the Ethereum-based autonomous investment fund The DAO, when an attacker, using a vulnerability in the code, was able to transfer more than $50 million to his account. You can protect yourself from such an attack by introducing the role of network administrator, that is, the organization that will be the operator of this network. In the story with The DAO, such an administrator made a hardfork and, in fact, rolled back the transaction, thereby saving the funds.

Another attack vector goes to intercept traffic in the blockchain network in order to try to create an alternative chain. Protection against it is also clear: it is necessary to build a secure perimeter, access to which is provided by the network operator. In Masterchain, such protection is provided, the operator is now the FinTech Association.

Main services

In 2017-2020 FinTech Association worked on six services of the Masterchain platform.

"Digital Bank Guarantees"

Service "Digital Bank Guarantees" (CBG) to issue and accompany digital bank guarantees. Posting information about the issued guarantees in the distributed register of Masterchain allows banks and their clients to receive reliable information in real time, and also reduces the risks of falsification of data, explained in FinTech. To ensure confidentiality, access to guarantees is implemented using the Masterchain role model.

Software development of the service was carried out with expert and technical support of the system integrator CROC.

According to representatives of the AFL, the service allows bank customers to more effectively manage their guarantee portfolio and makes it possible to verify the reliability of the guarantee in real time.

2022: Optimization of the software of the Digital Bank Guarantees service

The Distributed Registry Systems company, a developer and operator of applied services on the Masterchain blockchain platform, announced on June 1, 2022, an update to the Digital Bank Guarantees (CBG) service software. Key changes affected the expansion of functionality and ease of use of the solution. Now users can choose the form of a bank guarantee when forming its project: create a bank guarantee in a universal form, beneficiary form or free form. For all options, automated data exchange between the participants of the distributed register of the CBG and automatic filling of fields are implemented. The functionality has been improved taking into account the wishes of market participants and allows organizations not to change the usual business processes and use the approved document type. In this version, the availability of the service for principals has been increased due to the possibility of issuing a guarantee in the absence of a beneficiary in the system. This expands the scope of the service and allows you to issue a bank guarantee in electronic form for use for various purposes, including for participation in public procurement. For beneficiaries, the function of controlling the total coverage of guarantees accepted from the bank is implemented. Within the framework of risk policies, the beneficiary can set the maximum amount of coverage for issued guarantees from a specific financial institution. The system will allow you to intelligently track the total amount of warranty coverage for one bank and issue warnings in case of exceeding the established limit.

In addition to the development of functionality, the number of companies that have connected to the Digital Bank Guarantees service is also growing. Since the beginning of 2022, other major participants have joined it, including Rostelecom, Ak Bars Bank and VSK Insurance House. A number of companies are already completing the connection and will soon become full-fledged members of the distributed register of the CBG. The growth of market interest imposes requirements for the functional and technological content of the solution. We are constantly improving the intellectual base of the service, based on the feedback of existing and potential users and taking into account the needs of each participant in the chain: principal - bank - beneficiary, " commented Grigory Danishevsky, Commercial Director of Distributed Register Systems.

"Decentralized depository system for mortgage accounting"

The Decentralized Depository System for Mortgage Accounting (DDS) service is aimed at reducing the cost and time of mortgage storage, accounting and securitization operations. Storage depositories form a "cloud" for distributed storage of electronic mortgages and movements on depot accounts. Processes between participants are automated on smart contracts that correspond to the logic of the current legislation.

AHML, Rosreestr and banks providing mortgage loans and depositories can work with the service.

According to the AFL, seovis allows you to significantly (2-5 times) reduce the cost of storage, accounting and preparation/securitization. In addition, it reduces the time for operations from days to minutes, increases the reliability of storing mortgages and operations on depot accounts.

KYC (Know Your Customer)

KYC (Know Your Customer) is aimed at reducing the lack of necessary information to prevent fraudulent transactions. It makes it possible to exchange information about individuals (KYC attributes structure) between members of the decentralized Masterchain network without disclosing information constituting bank secrets and personal data of customers.

In the future, it is planned to scale the solution in terms of simplified identification (implementation of the Digital Identity concept), exchange of data by legal entities and exchange of credit histories.

"Distributed Register of Digital Bank Guarantees"

The "Distributed Register of Digital Bank Guarantees" is designed to reduce labor costs for the process of obtaining and verifying a guarantee for all participants in the chain: bank, principal, beneficiary. In addition, the project is aimed at increasing the security of bank guarantees and reducing the number of counterfeits on paper, as well as expanding the capabilities of bank guarantees through the use of smart contracts.

The ultimate goal of the service is to create a distributed register of digital bank guarantees issued by banks operating in the Russian Federation and to avoid paper guarantees. It is assumed that the digital guarantee will be a primary digital document that will be reproduced on paper only if necessary for informational purposes.

"Digital Letters of Credit"

The Digital Letter of Credit service is aimed at reducing the timing of transactions on covered letters of credit. Its tasks include the elimination of paper document flow and associated time delays in the execution of transactions, as well as automation of financial transactions.

"Digital Financial Assets"

The Digital Financial Assets service allows you to release these assets and work with them.

History

2022

Renewal of CIPF compliance certificate of classes KS1 and KS2

According to the company "Distributed Register Systems," the copyright holder and developer of the blockchain platform "MasterChain," the FSB of Russia has extended until June 1, 2024 certificates of compliance with the requirements for cryptographic information protection tools (CIPF) designed to protect information that does not contain information constituting a state secret. This was announced on September 29, 2022 by the "Distributed Register Systems."

Extending the validity period of certificates compliance with the CIPF requirements of classes KS1 and KS2 will allow you to continue to use the Master in accordance with the requirements of the law for cryptographic protection of information, including enciphering files , data calculation of the imitation rate, calculation of the hash function, protection TLS of connections, authentication subscribers when establishing connections, creation and verification, electronic signature creation and verification of the electronic signature key. Thanks to these functions, the blockchain platform is used to create state corporate decentralized systems and ensures the transfer of confidential information through unprotected channels, communications trusted storage of documents legal and the significance of transactions.

Russian companies and authorities have increasingly used distributed registry technologies as the basis for replacing classic products and creating new solutions of industry and national importance. We see an increase in the demand for the platform on the market, therefore, at the request of customers, we decided to extend the validity of compliance certificates for the first version of the platform, although in the near future we expect to receive new certificates for Masterchain 2.0, "said Igor Kuzmichev, General Director of Distributed Register Systems.

"Masterchain 2.0"

On September 1, 2022, Distributed Registry Systems announced the release of an updated version of the platform for developing government and corporate solutions based on Masterchain distributed registry technologies.

"Masterchain 2.0." Photo: fintechru.org.

According to the company, the Masterchain 2.0 platform has received a productivity increase sufficient for the implementation of high-load projects with complex logic of smart contracts. The bandwidth of the blockchain network implemented on the basis of Masterchain 2.0, when applying special architectural solutions, can scale over 60 billion transactions per year, which is comparable to the number of all transactions on domestic payment cards in 2021.

The updated version of the platform sets minimum infrastructure requirements, is compatible with Russian operating systems, including Astra Linux, and completes testing of compatibility with microprocessors of the Elbrus family. These factors make it possible to use Masterchain 2.0 to replace foreign solutions, as well as to build platforms of an industry, inter-industry and national scale.

As of September 2022, there is a shortage of software and hardware on the market for already operated and created IT systems. Existing challenges require revision of traditional local solutions in favor of cooperative decentralized ecosystems. Optimization of Masterchain 2.0, along with support for domestic equipment and software, allows you to consider distributed registry technology as the basis for any enterprise projects. told Grigory Danishevsky, Commercial Director of Masterchain

The platform concept assumes an open approach to developing and launching smart contracts through compatibility with the latest versions of Quorum and Ethereum platforms, as well as the use of the high-level Solidity language. To write transactions to the blockchain, the RAFT consensus algorithm is used, which does not require energy-intensive calculations. At the same time, Masterchain 2.0 uses Russian GOST cryptography and allows implementing state and commercial projects on blockchain technologies that require ensuring the confidentiality of information and the legal significance of the transactions. In addition, the platform's functionality has been expanded with site status monitoring tools, as well as the ability to prevent failures and detect suspicious activity.

Application services and development environments are formed on the basis of the Masterchain 2.0 blockchain platform. Users have access to the technical support infrastructure and documentation portal, as well as the Testnet environment for testing technology and debugging smart contracts before launching solutions into commercial operation.

2021

Assignment by FinTech Association of rights to develop Masterchain "Distributed Register Systems"

In 2021, the rights to Masterchain and the services created on the platform as a contribution to the property of the company "Distributed Registry Systems" were transferred, on the FinTech Association site of which the platform was developed. The Distributed Register Systems company was founded in April 2021 by the FinTech Association (AFL) and its participants VTB:,,,,. Gazprombank Promsvyazbank Moscow Exchange National Payment Card System The company's goal is to develop services for the blockchain market. Russian

The start of the introduction of blockchain in the factoring market

On November 18, 2021, it became known that the national blockchain system of Russia "Masterchain" is beginning to be introduced on the factoring market. The corresponding agreement was concluded by LLC Distributed Register Systems, VTB Factoring and the unified factoring platform GetFinance (Getfinance LLC).

The partners agreed to use blockchain technologies in the factoring and commercial financing market. They also plan to jointly implement the concepts of a full-fledged secondary turnover of digital financial assets (CFA) for various classes of investors and financial service providers.

The national blockchain system of Russia is beginning to be introduced in the factoring market

The first stage of work for entering the CFA market was to create a commitment converter under the format of a decision on the release of CFA, which allows collecting pools of factoring obligations for the subsequent issue of CFA, including the "Digital Portfolio" implemented at Masterchain. The Commitment Converter is a developed process for selecting, classifying and forming a pool of monetary claims for the subsequent issue of CFAs. Digital portfolios of obligations are formed in the Masterchain blockchain network and are protected from changes, which ensures transparency and security of future transactions. At the second stage, it is planned to issue CFAs for secondary circulation of claims until their repayment under the portfolios of monetary claims for factoring.

The Distributed Register Systems company acts as a technological partner and plans to become the operator of the CFA information system on the Masterchain platform. VTB Factoring will act as a factoring provider and in the future the first issuer of CFA for a portfolio of receivables to large customers, and MetFinance plans to act as a CFA exchange operator through the GetFinance platform.

The service will allow you to pack in the portfolio not only monetary claims assigned to VTB Factoring and other factoring companies operating on GetFinance, but also other financial obligations to other market participants.^[4]

2020: Prototypes of new services and testing of "Digital Bank Guarantees"

For the Masterchain blockchain platform, operated by the FinTech association, prototypes of two new services have been developed: Digital Financial Assets and Digital Letters of MasterChain. Anatoly Konkin, head of the Development of Distributed Register Technology section of the FinTech Association, spoke about what they are, as well as detailed information about another service that is being tested - Digital Bank Guarantees.

The association has developed a prototype of the Digital Financial Assets service, its piloting is scheduled for 2021, since the law regulating the release of these assets comes into force in January 2021.

The release and circulation of digital financial assets will take place in an information system that can work, among other things, on blockchain technology. In turn, the law on digital financial assets describes two new market participants. This is the operator of the information system, which controls the network and connects the participants to it, and the exchange operator is the "front" for the final investor, that is, the interface where the investor can go and make operations with digital financial assets, - said Anatoly Konkin.

According to him, having developed the service, the FinTech association plans to register Masterchain as a platform for registering and circulating digital financial assets, that is, as an information system operator.

With the help of it, companies will be able to attract financing, and investors will receive a new tool for placing funds, - said Anatoly Konkin.

He also noted that the new law means by digital financial assets monetary claims, rights to issue securities (shares, bonds, options, etc.), rights to participate in the capital of a non-public joint-stock company.

Companies wishing to borrow money from investors will be able to do this through the release of digital financial assets, which greatly simplifies the interaction of all participants in the process by reducing the number of intermediaries, - explained Anatoly Konkin.

According to Anatoly Konkin, the FinTech association plans to register Masterchain as a platform for registering and circulating digital financial assets. (photo - www.fintechru.org)

In addition, Konkin spoke in detail about two Masterchain services created before the Digital Financial Assets service: Digital Letters of Credit and Digital Bank Guarantees.

As of October, the FinTech association has developed a prototype of the first service - Digital Letters of Credit. This service reduces the opening time of a letter of credit from four days to one.

A letter of credit is a form of settlement that allows you to guarantee the seller the transfer of money from the buyer after the delivery of goods or the provision of services. Now for such settlements it is necessary to open a letter of credit, as a rule, in a bank branch. After that, the seller needs to provide the bank in paper form with documents confirming the execution of the contract, and the bank needs to check their correctness. The use of the Masterchain blockchain platform allows you to automate the process of issuing and executing a letter of MasterChain due to the fact that a bank, a seller, and a buyer can be connected to the system, who can confirm the execution of the transaction immediately on the blockchain, - said Anatoly Konkin.

As of October, the Digital Bank Guarantees service is being tested by such large companies as Gazprom Neft and MTS. The service is also piloted in several banks that are members of the FinTech association: Raiffeisen Bank, Alfa Bank, VTB, Ak Bars Bank. The service will be put into commercial operation in the IV quarter of 2020 - the first quarter of 2021. According to the FinTech association, about 10-20 organizations will be connected to this service on the Masterchain platform annually.

Using the Digital Bank Guarantees service on the Masterchain platform, banks can issue guarantees electronically and automate their authentication, as well as manage guarantees using smart contracts. Thanks to the new service, the time for issuing a bank guarantee is reduced from hours to minutes.

Often, contracting companies have to issue guarantees in paper form from banks and transfer them to customer organizations. And those - independently contact the bank in order to make sure that a guarantee has really been issued. Today, there are systems for issuing guarantees in electronic form on the market, but not all of them allow automating their authentication, "said Anatoly Konkin.

The Masterchain service digitizes this process and optimizes it, since both the banks issuing guarantees and the beneficiaries (the companies in whose favor the guarantee was issued, i.e. customers of goods and services) are connected to the platform. Thus, the participants in the transaction can track operations in a single trusted environment: the beneficiary company can check the system for a record of a guarantee issued in favor of it or even automate the process thanks to smart contracts.

Another possibility of the service is to support the full life cycle of a bank guarantee on the platform.

Often, a contract is not a one-time delivery, but a series of services provided to the beneficiary. For example, we are talking about the supply of sand in three batches. The supplier brought the first batch and entered into the system documents confirming that it was shipped. After the beneficiary - recipient of the product confirms this, the bank automatically reduces the guarantee obligations. This allows banks to more effectively manage their obligations and set more flexible commissions for issuing guarantees, - explained Anatoly Konkin.

The service gives beneficiaries the opportunity to effectively manage the Treasury. For large organizations, he said, this is very important, since they have an extensive structure with a large number of subsidiaries, and the service allows them to consolidate information about all guarantees in one window.

2019

Launch of a blockchain system for the financial market

On December 19, 2019, the FinTech Association (AFL) announced the launch of a decentralized depository system (DDS) on the Masterchain platform for accounting for mortgage mortgages on blockchain.

The first to support the project were Sberbank and the Market Special Depository; by the end of 2019, five more large Russian banks and depositories will begin to use the system.

The FinTech Association, together with the Central Bank and key participants in the financial market, for the first time in Russia launched a decentralized depository system (DDS) to account for mortgage mortgages on the blockchain

By the time of launch, electronic mortgages were recorded in the DDS, the development of the system involves other types of securities.

According to Raiffeisen Bank, the use of blockchain will significantly increase the stability and reliability of data on electronic mortgages. The process of registering a transaction and post-servicing secured loans will be greatly simplified, the risks of no collateral will be minimized, and the time for the transaction will be reduced. The development of the DDS also simplifies the securitization of mortgage mortgages, the bank said.

The AFL report notes that in order to launch the first such blockchain solution, it required the creation of an infrastructure of distributed registers and the formation of a regulatory environment that ensures the interaction of financial market participants. Amendments were made to the Federal Law "On Mortgages," the Bank of Russia regulations on depository activities, formats of digital documents of the electronic mortgage, standards of structured messages between depositories were created.

The start of the industrial operation of the Masterchain blockchain platform is an important event for the financial market, says Tatyana Zharkova, Managing Director of AFL. - The created infrastructure and technology are serious assets for the market, including for the implementation of the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation" in terms of the development of end-to-end technology of distributed registers.[5]

FSB certification of the Masterchain platform version 1.0

November 26, 2019 Fintech Development Association (FinTech Association, AFL) received a certificate FSB Russia for the product (cryptographic information protection CIPF) "MasterChain" version 1.0.

Thus, Masterchain became the first Russian blockchain platform ready for industrial operation and meeting all information security requirements, and this is a key condition for applying blockchain in practice, including in the financial industry. Therefore, Masterchain certification plays an important role not only for the platform itself and the network members, but also for the development of blockchain in the market as a whole. It is worth noting that, according to the Digital Economy of Russia program, distributed registry technology is an end-to-end technology that covers several industries at once and contributes to improving the quality of life and business conditions.

The FSB certificate confirms the safety of using an electronic signature corresponding to GOST in industrial operation to conclude legally significant transactions. In addition to the certification of the platform, a positive conclusion was also obtained on the use of CIPF Masterchain 1.0 in a decentralized depository system for accounting for securities.

The terms of reference for CIPF and Masterchain's compliance with information security and cryptographic protection requirements were performed by an accredited testing laboratory. " During Crypto-Pro the research, CryptoPro specialists not only checked the implementation of information security requirements for CIPF, but also developed methods for analyzing information security for systems based on distributed registry technology.

{{quote 'author = noted Managing Director of the FinTech Association Tatyana Zharkova' Certification is of important strategic importance, as it starts the industrial operation of Masterchain and contributes to the promotion of blockchain in the Russian market as a whole. We have done extensive work and hope that Masterchain's development and certification experience will give a positive impetus to the development of distributed registry technology in financial and other industries, }}

Blockchain systems are based on the use of cryptographic information protection and electronic signature functions - and Masterchain became the first blockchain platform to ensure that all information security requirements are met. This is a prerequisite for the practical use of blockchain in the financial sector. Therefore, obtaining a certificate is important not only for the Masterchain platform itself, but also for the development of distributed registry technology in general, commented on Deputy Director of the Information Security Department of the Bank of Russia Artem Sychev

Positive conclusion of the FSB of Russia on the results of the examination of case studies "Masterchain" 1.0

On October 7, 2019, a positive conclusion was received FSB Russia based on the results of the examination of case studies (CIPF funds) cryptographic information protection of MasterChain - blockchain a platform developed FinTech Association (AFL) jointly with the company "," Cryptomissile defense market participants financial and. The Bank of Russia Association announced this on October 10, 2019.

According to representatives of the AFL, Masterchain became the first certified platform that uses Russian cryptography standards and meets information security requirements. CIPF Masterchain version 1.0 includes a blockchain node, as well as a confidential message transmission system (PCOS).

The information security study was carried out by the licensed laboratory "CryptoPro." During the research, methods for analyzing the fulfillment of information security requirements for systems based on distributed registry technology were developed.

In addition to certification of CIPF Masterchain, a study was also conducted on the correctness of embedding CIPF Masterchain in the decentralized depository system (DDS), based on the results of the examination of which a conclusion with positive conclusions was signed.

{{quote 'author = Tatiana Zharkova, Managing Director of FinTech Association, noted|Masterchain certification allows us to talk about the platform's readiness for industrial operation. For October 2019, DDS is launched to record electronic mortgages for participants in the FinTech Association, }}

Meeting all the information security requirements of the Masterchain platform speaks of the readiness of blockchain technology for practical use in the financial sector. This result is important not only for the Masterchain platform itself, but also for the development of distributed registry technology in general, commented on First Deputy Director of the Information Security Department of the Bank of Russia Artem Sychev

{{quote 'author = explained Deputy General Director of CryptoPro Stanislav Smyshlyaev' Platform Masterchain was originally designed to fulfill information security requirements. Taking into account the first experience in creating certified blockchain platforms, CryptoPro, together with the FinTech Association, also participated in the preparation of technological solutions. This approach made it possible to obtain a platform that simultaneously meets the functional requirements of market participants and information security requirements, }}

ITU-T experts studied the architecture and model of Masterchain work

In early August 2019, a final meeting of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) focus group on the use of distributed registry technology was held in Geneva. One of the working groups was headed by a representative of the FinTech Association.

As you know, the FinTech Association, together Bank of Russia with market participants financial , were able to create blockchain a platform that meets all national regulatory requirements and standards. information safety Experts from the international standards body have studied the architecture and operating model of the Masterchain blockchain platform, built in accordance the Russian with the requirements. As noted in the FinTech Association, this is an important step towards the interoperability of the Russian system with other similar developments.

The results of the focus group will serve as the basis for the development of international technical standards and recommendations to help developers, technology solution providers, government agencies, regulators and users themselves around the world - everyone who is interested in using distributed registry technology in their activities. We communicated our vision, and it was included in the final document. This also indicates the correctness of the approaches used in our country, - said the representative of the AFL.

Masterchain is a decentralized network for the exchange and storage of financial information. It provides a trusted environment for financial market participants, provides additional security guarantees for transaction and data information, and helps reduce transaction costs. By the end of 2019, the decentralized depository system (DDS) at Masterchain will be put into commercial operation.

Sberbank abandons the Masterchain platform

On July 3, 2019, it became known that Sberbank he was disappointed in the Central Bank blockchain Masterchain platform created under the auspices and intends to use its international counterparts in the future, although he will not curtail the projects already launched on it. Oleg Abdrashitov, director of the Sberbank blockchain laboratory, spoke about this.

Masterchain, which is a modification of the well-known Ethereum platform (Ether), is being developed by the Russian Association for the Development of Financial Technologies (Fintech, AFL), which was founded at the end of 2016 at the initiative of the Central Bank and with the participation of Sberbank, Alfa Bank, VTB - Vneshtorgbank, Raiffeisen Bank, Otkritie Bank.

According to the results of the use, Abdrashitov is inclined to consider the Russian platform ineffective, unsafe and slow.

"Masterchain" does not meet the requirements for the use of Sberbank, so for all future research we will use corporate blockchain platforms such as Hyperledger Fabric or Quorum (developed by open communities, originally created by IBM and the American financial structure JPMorgan, respectively, - said the specialist.

According to Abdrashitov, these future projects, for which Masterchain considers unpromising, may be related to OTC trade, trade financing, payments and mortgage lending.

Sberbank has already carried out several pilot projects at Fabric, issuing bond certificates for MTS, REPO agreements (a type of transaction with securities), including for Interros, as well as carrying out a project to finance trade with the M.Video electronics network and its suppliers.

Abdrashitov recalled that one of the pilot projects at Masterchain, which are of considerable value for banks, is the creation of a decentralized depository system for digital mortgage bonds. According to previously adopted plans, she should earn in early July 2019, but the top manager is inclined to doubt that this will happen - due to the slowness of the Fintech association.

According to Abdrashitov, many of Masterchain's problems are associated with the excessive centralization of this platform - its blockchain chains are visible only to members of the association - only approved parties can organize nodes to verify transactions, unlike bitcoin or Ether, where reporting is publicly available.

This in itself was not a problem for Sberbank, but Masterchain has become too centralized even for this format, Abdrashitov said, since its work is completely dependent on the central server of the Fintech association, which controls mining and consensus.

The system is also very slow, Abdrashitov said. Loading one mortgage bond in the form of a 30-kilobyte mail file takes three minutes.

Business people are not used to dealing with something when you press a button and then you take a break. Management is looking at this and becoming disillusioned with blockchain technology. We spend shareholder money. We need practical solutions,

In addition, according to Abdrashitov, such structures become unsafe when it comes to such a small network of only a few nodes.

Health check systems are good for thousands of participants, but if there are only five, it is easy for one of them to rewrite the accounting department,

According to the director of the Sberbank depository Yury Dubin, the credit institution has been fruitfully cooperating with the Central Bank for several blockchain projects for several years, including on the national Masterchain platform.

[[:Шаблон:Quote 'author '= comments Yury Dubin, Director of Sberbank Depository' ]]

According to Dubin, the project team managed to find solutions not only for technological, but also for legal issues of securities accounting.

{{quote 'author '= adds Andrey Shemetov, vice president^[6] '| Moreover, our joint work is not limited to this. Together with the regulator, in 2018 we carried out two transactions at once: ICO in the regulatory sandbox of the Central Bank and OTC repo on the blockchain. I believe that by the efforts of the regulator. In the regulatory sandbox of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, promising projects are piloted and the foundations of regulatory regulation are being worked out, which in the future will allow replicating effective solutions throughout the country, }}

2018: Rosstandart to consider standardization Masterchain

Logo in 2018

The FinTech Association became a member of the Committee for Standardization of Blockchain Technology "Software and Hardware of Distributed Register and Blockchain Technologies" of Rosstandart. The main purpose of the committee's work is the interaction of interested organizations to create unified technological approaches to the use of information systems of distributed registers and the Masterchain platform ^[7].

According to the press service of FinTekh, the committee is responsible for considering national and international projects of distributed registers, conducting scientific, technical and legal expertise, as well as forming proposals for standards for the use of such systems. The main emphasis is on the compliance of modern blockchain platforms with the GOST requirements for the transfer and storage of legally significant information. As part of its activities, the technical committee issues initiatives to the international organization for standardization in the field of blockchain ISO/TC 307 "Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies."

2017: Platform Management Plan and First Projects

In August 2017, the FinTech Association presented a plan-guide for the Masterchain platform. The document defines the principles of the technology, restrictions on the storage of information in it, as well as indicates the projects that should be the first to be implemented on its basis.

As Kommersant writes with reference to the annotation to the plan, the distributed registry does not store data requiring a special storage mode (protected by trade secrets, personal data , etc.), does not require trusted intermediaries, does not contain a single point of refusal, supports smart contracts and contains the ability to scale by the number of participants and transactions. All actions within the system have legal significance, and the resources spent by participants to support the system are taken into account on an independent basis.

All projects on the Masterchain platform are being developed to optimize economic costs, to prevent cybercrime, to minimize paper flow, to create a reliable, trusted environment for the Russian financial market, the document says.

The AFL selected four cases for piloting, which will be developed on the platform in the short term (their content is also reflected in the guide plan). The first is a decentralized depository system for accounting for mortgages. The second is the Know your customer project to prevent fraudulent transactions by exchanging information about individuals between system participants. The third is a distributed register of digital bank guarantees and the fourth is the issuance of digital letters of credit.

According to forecasts of E&Y analysts, in 2017 the volume of global investments of banks in blockchain will reach $1 billion. Experts interviewed by the publication believe that the main problem of projects, such as MasterChain, is the risk of information leakage, which significantly reduces the desire of competing organizations to participate in them.^[8]

"Masterchain, as an ecosystem, will allow the banking community to unite its efforts to research blockchain technology, allowing it to connect and create smart contracts in a single environment for financial market participants," said Alexey Arkhipov, director of crypto technologies at Qiwi.

According to Alexey Blagirev, Director of Innovation at Otkritie Bank, the prototype is a new method of interaction between banks to obtain operational information and allows you to check the relevance of customer data.

The capabilities that the system already provides: identification management, simplification of arbitration and acceleration of mutual settlements - prove the promise of distributed peer-to-peer blockchain systems for the development of the financial market, says Ekaterina Frolovicheva, head of the technological innovation center of Sberbank PJSC.

This is a truly significant event for banks, saying that with a sufficiently high competitiveness, banks are moving towards openness, which will make the relationship between customers and banks more comfortable and secure. I am glad that blockchain technologies have allowed banks today to unite their efforts and create projects aimed at improving the industry, "says Nadezhda Avdanina, director of the center for innovation and e-business technologies at Alfa-Bank JSC.

According to Vyacheslav Tsyganov, Vice President of Tinkoff Bank for Information Technology, the first transaction carried out within the framework of the created infrastructure of distributed registers confirms the potential of the Masterchain technology platform and its applicability in the interaction of banks with each other.

2016: Central Bank and Russian banks tested the masterchain

On October 5, 2016, the Bank of Russia announced the development and testing of masterchain messaging technology. The banking regulator spoke about this tool of interaction between financial market participants on its website.

Masterchain The Russian national blockchain network is used to transmit financial messages based on distributed blockchain registry technology. With this solution, banks can quickly confirm the relevance of customer or transaction data, as well as quickly create various financial services. In addition, the masterchain accelerates the exchange of information between counterparties and provides the necessary level of trust in financial transactions, the Central Bank explains.

Central Bank and market participants successfully tested the prototype of the masterchain

Creating prototypes and jointly studying the conditions for their use make it possible for both the regulator and market participants to understand the prospect, assess the potential, minimize the risks of using various technologies, and determine the next steps, "says Olga Skorobogatova, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia. - This is a good reserve for further movement forward. It is expected that the masterchain will develop within the framework of the consortium for the study of financial technologies, which is currently being created at the initiative of the Bank of Russia.

It is assumed that the blockchain project will be developed within the framework of a consortium for the study of financial technologies, created at the initiative of the Bank of Russia. In the future, it is planned to consider the use of a prototype masterman as part of the financial infrastructure of a new generation, Skorobogatova noted.

The report of the Central Bank of October 5, 2016 also states that the largest Russian banks have already made test transactions using the masterchain. Who exactly tested the new technology is not specified.^[9]

In September 2016, it was reported that transactions were carried out on the prototype of Cinimex, which is a service for exchanging data on customers of different banks. The masterchain was based on Etherium technology.