Sber Plans Crypto-Backed Lending Expansion With USDt and Ether Collateral

Russia’s largest bank, Sber, plans to expand its crypto-backed lending products to include Tether’s USDt stablecoin and Ether as collateral alongside Bitcoin, according to a senior executive. According to Cointelegraph, Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov said in a Friday TASS report that Sber will adapt its existing products and gradually broaden its offerings as Russia’s new crypto law takes effect. He said the bank intends to add the assets as collateral after the Bank of Russia allows them for public trading. The move comes as Russia develops a regulated crypto market under a law signed by president Vladimir Putin on Aug. 4, with core provisions taking effect Sept. 1. The law gives the Bank of Russia authority to decide which crypto assets may trade on regulated exchanges, and the central bank proposed Bitcoin, Ether and USDT for regulated exchange trading on Aug. 11, saying they met requirements including market capitalization, trading volume and at least five years of price history on overseas markets. Sber has taken a more cautious stance on the digital ruble, Russia’s central bank digital currency, 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.