Sberbank moves to expand crypto-backed loans

Sberbank, which issued Russia’s first loan secured by cryptocurrency, is now preparing to expand lending that uses digital assets as collateral.

The financial giant made the announcement after another top Russian bank unveiled its entry into this segment by pitching corporate loans backed by Bitcoin holdings.

Sberbank to grow lending business in the crypto space

Russia’s largest bank by assets is finalizing the necessary infrastructure and procedures to scale up cryptocurrency-secured lending, its press service told Russian media.

In late December, the majority state-owned banking behemoth became Russia’s first institution to issue a loan using crypto collateral, as reported by Cryptopolitan.

It premiered the service by offering Intelion Data, a major player in the country’s growing crypto mining industry, a loan against digital currency minted by the company.

“Sberbank has already conducted one pilot project for cryptocurrency-secured lending. Its main goal was to test the technological aspects of working with this type of collateral,” the bank’s press service said in a statement sent to the RIA Novosti news agency on Thursday, adding:

In last year’s debut of the product, the Russian banking giant employed its own solution, named Rutoken, to ensure the safe storage of the coins staked by the miner.

Intelion is Russia’s second-largest mining company, after Bitriver, with which they control more than half of the nation’s regulated mining sector in terms of capacity and revenue.

The latter is now facing bankruptcy and may soon have a new owner, following the arrest of its founder and chief executive, Igor Runets, who has been accused of tax evasion offenses.

Crypto-secured loans expected to become common in Russia

Sberbank confirmed its plans to issue more loans backed by cryptocurrency for Reuters, highlighting strong interest from corporate clients. It reported demand for such products in December, too.

By all indications, this market is going to grow with upcoming regulations and in response to increasing interest, mainly from Russia’s booming mining industry, where companies can use such funding to finance their operations.

Earlier on Thursday, another major Russian bank, the privately owned Sovcombank, joined the race to offer lending services using digital collateral.

It told the business daily Kommersant the loans will be available to any entity that meets its requirements, such as being registered and active in Russia and actually owning the cryptocurrency.

Russian banking giant ready to support regulatory efforts in Moscow

In its latest announcement, Sberbank made it clear that the future of lending secured by digital assets will depend on the development of the regulatory environment in the Russian Federation.

The credit institution reiterated it sees both demand from corporate clients and technological feasibility, but emphasized clear regulation is a must for mass adoption.

Also quoted by the Prime news agency, Sber stated:

“Our work with clients involved in cryptocurrency is focused on several areas and is based on a deep understanding of their business models and risk profiles,” the bank further emphasized.

And it’s not just lending that Sberbank is engaged in. It was among the first to take advantage of the Bank of Russia’s decision to authorize investments in crypto-based derivatives last May and now offers a range of products using cryptocurrency as the underlying asset, including Bitcoin futures.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities are preparing to replace the temporary “experimental legal regime” currently governing crypto investing with permanent regulations.

The comprehensive rules, which will cover activities such as trading and exchange, must be adopted in the first half of 2026, by July 1 at the latest, and enter into full force later this year and in 2027.

They are based on a new regulatory concept published by the authority in Moscow towards the end of 2025, which aims to expand investor access to cryptocurrencies and recognize them as “currency assets.”

Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.