Russia's Sberbank Sees $46 Billion in Crypto Trading, Plans Ethereum and USDT-Backed Loans

In brief

• Sberbank's Anatoly Popov told TASS that Russian crypto trading could reach about 4 trillion rubles (~$46.43 billion) in the first year under new rules and roughly 7.5 trillion rubles (~$87 billion) by 2029.
• The bank plans to accept Ethereum and USDT as loan collateral alongside Bitcoin—"after the Central Bank, of course, allows them for public circulation.”
• The plans come as Russia's crypto law takes effect September 1.

Russia's largest bank expects crypto trading to take off once the country's new digital asset rules take effect, and it's preparing to accept Ethereum and Tether's USDT as collateral for loans.

Sberbank Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov told state news agency TASS that cryptocurrency trading volumes in Russia could reach as much as 4 trillion rubles, or about $46.43 billion, in the first year, and climb to roughly 7.5 trillion rubles, around $87 billion, by 2029.

Popov described the projection as conservative, noting that a large share of transactions will keep flowing through crypto exchange services that bypass formal exchange trading, and that the market won't fully mature within a year since professional participants have until July 1, 2027, to obtain licenses.