Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, plans to accept ether and Tether’s USDT as collateral for crypto-backed loans alongside bitcoin once regulators permit those assets to circulate publicly.
Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov told state news agency TASS that the bank will first adjust its existing products to fit Russia’s new crypto rules, then gradually expand the list of assets it is willing to take as collateral.
Bank of Russia draft list includes BTC, ETH and USDT
The Bank of Russia named bitcoin, ether and USDT in an August draft list of cryptocurrencies cleared for public trading on Russian exchanges. The central bank said the assets were selected based on market capitalization, average daily trading volume and at least five years of price history on foreign platforms.
Russia’s new crypto law takes effect on Sept. 1. It allows trading through regulated intermediaries and applies the same requirements to foreign stablecoins.
Crypto payments inside Russia remain banned, and market participants have until July 2027 to obtain licenses.
Stablecoin collateral carries an added counterparty risk
For a bank operating under full U.S. blocking sanctions, building a loan book backed by dollar-pegged stablecoins adds a counterparty that can shut the collateral off.
Tether has said it freezes USDT linked to sanctioned entities and has coordinated with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, and U.S. law enforcement on freezes exceeding $344 million.
The Bank of Russia raised the same issue in June, warning that stablecoin issuers can seize tokens from lawful owners under unilateral restrictions without a court order.
Sberbank has been under U.S. blocking sanctions since April 2022 and under an EU asset freeze since July that year. Bitcoin and ether do not carry the same issuer risk.
Sberbank has already issued a bitcoin-backed loan
In December, Sberbank issued a bitcoin-backed loan to miner Intelion Data, holding the collateral through its own custody product. The bank did not disclose the size of the loan.
Russian policymakers have been drafting the broader framework for more than a year. During that process, the central bank proposed letting banks and brokerages run crypto exchanges under existing licenses while initially capping crypto exposure at 1% of a bank’s capital.