Russia has announced that they have developed a blockchain platform for international payments capable of replacing the global SWIFT system.
The system was developed by a government organization consisting of numerous tech companies, called the Rostec Group.
The blockchain platform, called CELLS, upon which the payments system is built, was developed by the Novosibirsk Institute of Software Systems (NIPS), which is affiliated with the Rostec Group.
The digital system will allow Russia to pay for its imports in its national currency, the Ruble, instead of the Dollar. Similarly, the system will also allow foreign countries to pay for Russian imports in their national currencies.
Rostec Group believes that this new system “could provide a real alternative to the international payment services provided by the SWIFT system.”
Additionally the CELLS platform will allow its users to create wallets to store digital currencies.
The CEO of the Rostec Group, Oleg Yevtushenko says that the new system will be able to perform about 100,000 transactions per second, with the possibility of doubling this number.
“The digital payment system on the blockchain platform can be used as a full-fledged replacement for SWIFT, providing high speed, security and irrevocable transactions,” he said.
According to Yevtushenko, this feature of local currency payment will allow users to circumvent Western sanctions.
The Rostec Group is targeting large companies that have commercial relations with Russia, and foreign government authorities that do business with Moscow, as well as financial institutions and banks.
This new system was developed to circumvent the Western sanctions imposed on Russia since it waged a war on Ukraine more than three months ago.
These sanctions included banning Russia from the international SWIFT payment system.
Read Also: Russia’s Central Bank Looks to Use Crypto for International Trade
