Sber, Russia's largest bank, plans to broaden its crypto-backed lending business by accepting Tether's USDt stablecoin and Ether as collateral alongside Bitcoin, a senior executive said. The move marks one of the clearest signs yet of how Russia's largest state-controlled lender is positioning itself in the country's newly regulated digital asset market, after years in which Russian authorities restricted crypto use even as Russians held significant crypto holdings.

Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov said the bank will adapt its existing products and gradually expand its offerings as Russia's new crypto law takes effect, according to a Friday TASS report. Sber intends to add the assets as collateral once the Bank of Russia permits them for public trading, he said. Crypto-collateralized lending, in which borrowers pledge digital assets against loans, is an established product among global crypto firms and some banks elsewhere, but remains rare among major state banks in sanctioned economies — making Sber's expansion a notable test case for how such services operate under Russia's new regulatory framework.

The plans come as Russia rolls out a regulated crypto market under a law signed by President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 4, with core provisions taking effect Sept. 1. The legislation gives the Bank of Russia authority to determine which crypto assets can trade on regulated exchanges. The rollout follows years of debate in Moscow over whether to legalize crypto broadly, a discussion that intensified as Russian officials explored digital assets for cross-border settlement amid Western sanctions.

On Aug. 11, the central bank proposed Bitcoin, Ether and USDT for regulated exchange trading, saying the assets met its requirements, including market capitalization, trading volume and at least five years of price history on overseas markets. Which assets the Bank of Russia ultimately clears for regulated trading — and on what timeline — will directly shape the scope of products like Sber's collateralized loans, making the central bank's listing decisions a key marker to watch in the coming months.

Sber has taken a more cautious stance on the digital ruble, Russia's central bank digital currency (CBDC), ahead of its wider rollout on Sept. 1. Sber's chief financial officer, Taras Skvortsov, reportedly said the bank sees little evidence of broad demand for the CBDC.

"I don't see any clear interest in this instrument, apart from the central bank's," Skvortsov said, adding that neither retail nor corporate clients nor financial institutions are actively pushing for the CBDC.