Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, plans to accept Bitcoin, Ether and Tether’s USDT as collateral for conventional loans as the country moves cryptocurrency trading and custody into a regulated financial-market framework. Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of Sberbank’s management board, disclosed the plans in an August 28 interview with Russian state news agency TASS ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum.
Sberbank intends to begin with Bitcoin and subsequently expand eligible collateral to Ether and USDT after receiving the necessary regulatory clearance. The plan does not mean customers can immediately pledge all three cryptocurrencies for loans. Popov said the expansion will depend on the Bank of Russia allowing the assets to circulate through regulated public markets and completing the rules governing their use. Sberbank has not disclosed a launch date, minimum collateral requirements, loan-to-value ratios or which customers will initially qualify.
Sberbank Already Tested Bitcoin-Backed Lending
The initiative builds on a crypto-backed lending pilot Sberbank conducted with Russian cryptocurrency mining company Intelion Data. The bank issued a corporate loan secured by cryptocurrency mined by Intelion, testing how digital assets could be held as collateral while the borrower received conventional financing. Sberbank used its own custody infrastructure alongside Russian hardware-security technology from Rutoken to protect the pledged assets.The pilot was designed to establish operational processes around custody, collateral monitoring and enforcement before crypto-backed loans were offered more broadly.
Popov has previously said the model could eventually extend beyond mining companies to other businesses holding cryptocurrency on their balance sheets. The structure allows a company to obtain liquidity without immediately selling its crypto assets. As with securities-backed lending, however, declining collateral values could require additional collateral or potentially trigger liquidation depending on the final terms. Sberbank already has substantial experience with tokenized financial products. Digital financial asset issuance through its platform reached 408 billion rubles in 2025, more than five times the previous year’s level.
Russia Brings Crypto Into Regulated Financial System
Sberbank’s expansion coincides with a major change in Russian cryptocurrency regulation. Core provisions of Russia’s new crypto framework take effect September 1, establishing regulated roles for exchanges, brokers, custodians, asset managers and other financial intermediaries. The Bank of Russia has proposed Bitcoin, Ether and USDT for regulated exchange trading based on requirements including market capitalization, trading volume and at least five years of foreign-market price history. Retail access will remain restricted. Non-qualified investors would need to pass a knowledge test and could purchase up to 300,000 rubles of eligible cryptocurrencies annually through each intermediary. Qualified investors would receive broader access after completing testing requirements.
The framework does not make cryptocurrency legal tender. Using Bitcoin, Ether or USDT to pay for goods and services domestically remains prohibited. That distinction makes Sberbank’s collateral plan particularly significant. Rather than treating cryptocurrency as money, Russia’s largest lender would recognize selected digital assets as property capable of securing conventional bank credit. Sberbank is also developing supporting infrastructure. The lender has outlined plans for crypto wallet and digital-depository services as Russia establishes its regulated market, potentially giving it custody, trading and lending capabilities within the same institutional ecosystem. For Bitcoin and Ether, acceptance by Russia’s largest bank would provide another example of cryptocurrencies being incorporated into conventional collateral frameworks rather than remaining exclusively speculative assets.
USDT is potentially more consequential. Accepting a dollar-linked stablecoin as collateral inside a major state-controlled Russian bank would further integrate privately issued stablecoins into traditional banking infrastructure, even while Russia continues developing the digital ruble and remains subject to extensive Western financial sanctions. The immediate impact remains limited because Sberbank’s broader offering still depends on regulatory approval. But its earlier Bitcoin-backed loan shows the bank has moved beyond theoretical experimentation. If BTC, ETH and USDT become eligible collateral at scale, Russia’s new crypto framework would allow digital assets to perform a familiar banking function: securing credit without first being converted into cash.