VP Of Major Russian Bank Predicts Blockchain Will Cause Banks to Disappear by 2026

06.04.2016

Vice President of Sberbank of Russia, the country’s biggest state-owned bank, Andrei Sharov believes banks may disappear by 2026 because of blockchain technology’s impact.

“In ten years, I’m afraid, there will be no banks, and I won’t have any job. Now, peer-to-peer crediting platforms are effectively developing, just as blockchain-based payments technologies,” he told Rambler News Service.

Sharov also recalled R3CEV, an umbrella for over 40 financial institutions, engaged in rearranging business models for blockchain technology.

In Facebook discussion around the statement, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Reanimation Package of Reforms Oleksii Konashevych dismissed Sharov’s expectations as too optimistic:

“Wait until 2026? What are we going to do for ten whole years? That’s not how it’s done. I plan to overthrow the banking system in three years,” he wrote.

Konashevych’s somewhat pretentious eloquence is surprisingly in line with a recent statement by German Gref, chairman of Sberbank. Speaking at so-called Meetup of Leaders in mid-March, he said blockchain technology would be finalized in two to three years and render banks effectively useless.

Earlier Gref stated that blockchain technology may provide fast and safe data exchange. In addition, he confessed he owned some bitcoins.

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