The technical infrastructure for cross-border cryptocurrency settlements is fully ready among all key players in the Russian banking sector. However, entering this market promises to be extremely competitive—down to a "red ocean."
This assessment was voiced by Dmitry Vitman, COO of the corporate and investment banking unit at Alfa-Bank, during a professional discussion. According to him, the country's largest financial institutions have already 100% completed technical preparations for conducting transactions with digital currencies. Now, the decisive factor will not be technology, but the speed of bringing the product to market.
"All banks have built the infrastructure 100%. It will be a red ocean," Vitman emphasized, referring to an environment where all competitors are already ready and vying for the same audience. At the same time, Alfa-Bank itself views such competition as a driver of growth: "When the market changes, you can gain market share from that change."
The market is being built from scratch
However, having a technical foundation does not guarantee instant demand. As the expert noted, the main challenge now is not in code or servers, but in the need to essentially create a market from scratch. This situation resembles the launch of the digital financial assets (DFA) market, where the infrastructure was ready, but clients did not yet understand the value of the instrument.
According to Vitman, the first clients of banks will be companies already familiar with cryptocurrency: miners and importers working with jurisdictions where the level of acceptance of digital assets 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 explained to, with fairly low returns in the early stages," the Alfa-Bank representative stated.
Analytical commentary from Cryptalist: The situation in the Russian crypto settlement market is a classic example of how the infrastructure race outpaces real demand. Banks are technically ready, but the key issue is regulatory certainty and client base education. Those who can not only offer the "hardware" but also effectively educate the market will gain a decisive advantage. Over the next 12–18 months, we will witness a fierce battle for the first, most loyal corporate clients.