A platform that allows for the storage of digital money and the facilitation of international settlements between Russia and its partners has been developed by the state-owned Russian business Rostec utilizing blockchain technology. As a result of western sanctions, a number of Russian financial institutions have been cut off from the worldwide payment messaging system known as SWIFT. CELLS is designed to serve as an alternative to SWIFT.
As a direct consequence of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is becoming more isolated from the global financial system, conventional payment methods, and foreign currency reserves. The administration in Moscow is looking into the possibilities of employing cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum for the purpose of making international settlements. They have been making efforts to shift payments in their commercial transactions to national currencies such as the ruble and the yuan. This is due to the fact that the major corporations in Russia, including importers, are having trouble making payments in US dollars.
A digital payment system that is built on a blockchain platform may be utilized as a full-fledged substitute for SWIFT, delivering high speed, safe, and irreversible transactions, according to Oleg Yevtushenko, the Executive Director of Rostec. He continued by saying that with CELLS, it would be able to move to settlements in national currencies, the danger of sanctions will be eliminated, and the independence of Russia’s national financial policy with regard to clearing will be ensured. This information was quoted by RBC Crypto.
The Novosibirsk Institute of Program Systems is responsible for the creation of CELLS (NIPS). According to the report, its creators had the goal of developing a comprehensive ecosystem of software products and services based on distributed ledger technology (DLT), which would enable international payments, transactions involving multiple currencies, user identification, and the storage of digital currency.
With the ability to expand its capacity in the not-too-distant future, it is anticipated that the system will be able to handle up to 100,000 transactions per second. The developers guarantee that a number of different solutions, including a data storage system, a platform for generating web apps, a service known as “digital passport,” a system known as “digital housing and community services,” and others, will be created based on CELLS.