stable coins

Story: Sber Embraces USDT and Ether for Loans, Ignores Russia’s Digital Ruble

By Dan Saada

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What happened. Russia's biggest bank is moving into crypto — fast. Sber, the country's largest banking…

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The historical context. Sber's dual-track posture — lean into crypto collateral, stay skeptical of the state's digital…

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Why it matters. Sber's move carries weight well beyond Russia's borders.

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What to watch. A few things are worth tracking from here.

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Russia's biggest bank is moving into crypto — fast. Sber, the country's largest banking institution, is getting ready to accept USDT and Ether as collateral for loans, adding to…

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President Vladimir Putin signed off on Russia's regulated crypto market framework earlier this month, and Sber is basically sprinting to position itself ahead of the pack.

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Not a great look for the central bank's pet project.

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Sber's dual-track posture — lean into crypto collateral, stay skeptical of the state's digital currency — isn't exactly new territory for big banks navigating this kind of moment.

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China's experience with the digital yuan tells a similar story. The rollout came with real fanfare, heavy government backing, and a clear political push.

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The pattern keeps repeating. Traditional financial institutions tend to run two tracks at once: cautious engagement with whatever the state is promoting, and much more aggressive…

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Sber's move carries weight well beyond Russia's borders. When the country's dominant bank starts treating USDT and Ether as legitimate loan collateral — not just Bitcoin, which…

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Related: Bitcoin Dominance at 59.5% Sparks Weekend Debate on Altcoin Movements

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For global crypto markets, it probably matters more than most people are giving it credit for. Stablecoins have spent years fighting for legitimacy in institutional finance.

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The losers here could be the Russian government and the Bank of Russia itself. If Sber — the country's most systemically important bank — is openly signaling that the digital…

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And there's a broader tension worth naming. The Bank of Russia has proposed allowing Bitcoin, Ether, and USDT on regulated exchanges — a pragmatic acknowledgment that these…

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