Russia’s Largest Bank Wants Bitcoin and Ethereum as Collateral

Sberbank plans to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT) as loan collateral, deputy chairman Anatoly Popov told TASS on Friday.

Russia’s largest lender wants the coins as security, not as money. Paying with crypto in Russia remains banned when the country’s digital currency law takes effect on September 1.

Collateral is Legal, but Spending is Not

A Russian company can pledge Bitcoin to a bank, but it still cannot buy a coffee with it. Popov said Sberbank prepared for the rule change early and already handles digital assets. However, he made the expansion conditional.

“We plan to accept not only Bitcoin but also Ethereum and the stablecoin Tether as collateral… after the Central Bank, of course, allows them for public circulation,” local media reported.

President Vladimir Putin signed the law on August 4. The Bank of Russia published its first approved list a week later. Only three coins cleared the screen.

Regulators wanted size, high daily turnover, and at least 5 years of price history on foreign exchanges. Bitcoin, ether and USDT passed. Nothing else did, and the regulator is clear about the rest.

Crypto cannot be used in payments within Russia. Only exporters and importers get a carve-out for crypto payments in foreign trade.

No Rate, No Date, No Term Sheet

With the key rate standing at 14% as of August 28, money is expensive in Russia, and that number explains the demand. A miner can sell coins and lose the upside, or pledge them and pay interest.

Meanwhile, ordinary Russians will not get the option. Russia’s new crypto law caps non-qualified investors at 300,000 rubles (roughly $3,632) of crypto per year per intermediary. Corporate borrowers face no such ceiling.

Popov disclosed no loan-to-value ratio, interest rate, or launch date. He tied everything to permissions the central bank has not yet issued.

What exists today is smaller. Sber closed a crypto-backed lending pilot in December 2025 and targets a digital depository by December 1.

Notably, however, USDT is the quiet outlier, sitting at $0.9999, while Bitcoin moves every day. One coin needs a thin haircut, the other a deep one.

If a borrower defaults, Sberbank must sell those coins inside a country where spending them is illegal.