Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, which handles roughly a third of the country’s retail banking operations, plans to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT as loan collateral. The initiative follows President Vladimir Putin’s signing of Federal Law 282-FZ on August 4, 2026, establishing a legal framework that separates cryptocurrency use as collateral and tradable assets from its role as a domestic payment method. Sberbank previously tested the concept with a pilot BTC-collateralized loan to AO Intelion Data in December 2025. The Bank of Russia still needs to provide final approval for the product launch, with plans to target a regulated digital asset depository by December 1, 2026.
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