Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, announced plans to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT) as loan collateral. The arrangement remains subject to approval from the Central Bank of Russia for public circulation of these assets. Sberbank Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov told TASS on Friday that the bank intends to treat these crypto‑assets as “security” rather than payment currency.

This statement signals that Russian financial institutions are exploring wider use‑cases for cryptocurrencies in financing and collateral, instead of everyday transactions. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed relevant legislation on August 4. One week later, Russia’s central bank released its first‑batch approval list, with only three tokens passing review: Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT.