Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank by assets and a majority state-owned institution, is preparing scaled crypto-backed lending against Bitcoin and plans to add Ether and Tether’s USDT once the Bank of Russia approves those assets for domestic regulated trading. The push follows President Vladimir Putin’s signing of Federal Law 282-FZ on August 4, 2026, which lets crypto serve as loan collateral and trade through licensed intermediaries while barring it as a domestic payment method, with core provisions effective September 1, 2026. Sberbank issued a pilot Bitcoin-collateralized loan to AO Intelion Data in December 2025 and aims to launch a regulated digital asset depository by December 1, 2026, building end-to-end custody, collateral and lending infrastructure. SberCIB Investment Research forecasts 3.5 trillion to 4 trillion rubles in first-year regulated crypto trading, or up to about $46.43 billion, based on roughly 20% of Russia’s estimated 18 trillion-ruble annual turnover moving to licensed exchanges, with projections of 4.75 trillion to 5.25 trillion rubles by 2028 and about 7.5 trillion rubles, or roughly $87.06 billion, by 2029. Existing providers must apply for licenses by July 1, 2027. Sovcombank has already begun offering similar crypto-backed products. USDT would add sanctions-related risks Bitcoin and Ether do not carry, given Sberbank’s U.S. blocking sanctions since April 2022 and EU asset freeze since July 2022, Tether’s freezes of sanctioned-linked USDT, and a Bank of Russia warning that stablecoin issuers can seize tokens under unilateral restrictions without a court order. Loan terms, interest rates, loan-to-value ratios and customer eligibility remain undisclosed pending final central-bank approval.