The Russian banking sector is on the verge of a tectonic shift. The country's largest credit institutions have already completed the preparation of infrastructure for conducting cross-border settlements in cryptocurrency. This was stated by Dmitry Vitman, COO of the corporate and investment banking division at Alfa-Bank. According to him, the technical foundation is 100% ready, and now the market awaits not a technological breakthrough, but fierce competition.
Race for leadership: first mover takes all
Vitman emphasizes that all leading players are on equal footing in terms of technology. A public entry into the market will instantly turn it into a "red ocean"—a space where all competitors are already prepared and vying for the same audience. At Alfa-Bank, this prospect is seen not as a threat, but as an opportunity. "We love competition; it's a driver. When the market changes, you can gain market share from that change," the top manager noted. The key advantage will go to whoever can offer the service earlier than others.
Demand will have to be built from scratch
However, the readiness of the "hardware" is only half the battle. According to Vitman, the main challenge lies not in the technical aspect, but in the need to build demand practically from scratch. The situation resembles the launch of the digital financial assets (DFA) market, where infrastructure already exists, but clients still don't know why they need it.
The first clients will likely be companies that already have experience working with cryptocurrency outside the banking system: miners and importers dealing with jurisdictions where the level of digital asset adoption is higher. For an average corporate client, a lengthy onboarding process will be required—down to explaining pricing principles and comparing new instruments with familiar ones.
"A large number of clients need to be educated, visited, and informed, with fairly low returns in the initial stages," the expert notes. This means that a mass influx of corporate users will not happen immediately, but will be the result of painstaking educational efforts by banks.
Cryptalist Analysis: The market for cross-border crypto settlements in Russia is a classic example of "first mover advantage." Technologies are at the same level for everyone, and the decisive factor will be the speed of market entry and the quality of client service. Banks that can not only provide the "pipeline" but also effectively "sell" the idea to corporate clients will capture the lion's share of this new, but rapidly growing, segment.