Russia’s biggest lender, Sberbank, has completed the country’s first crypto-backed corporate loan, extending funding to local bitcoin miner Intelion Data in a pilot deal that signals how traditional finance may begin to treat crypto as bankable collateral. The bank disclosed the transaction late December, noting that the borrower pledged self-mined digital currency as security; key economic terms were not published.
What we know about the structure
Sberbank said the pilot was designed specifically for a cryptocurrency miner, with the pledged asset being coins produced by the company’s own infrastructure. Importantly, the bank custodying the collateral is not outsourcing the task: Sber used an in-house custody setup that relies on a Rutoken hardware module to safeguard the crypto during the life of the loan. This “hold in bank wallets until repayment” approach reduces rehypothecation or third-party risk and mirrors controls familiar from traditional secured lending.
Sber described the deal as a “pilot” and did not disclose loan size, tenor, or the specific crypto assets held, leaving flexibility to iterate on parameters as regulation clarifies in 2026. Russian business media and wires also highlighted the novelty of using mined cryptocurrency as collateral for a corporate borrower.
Why it matters for mining and banking sectors
For the mining industry, a bankable crypto-collateral product addresses a long-standing financing gap: miners often prefer not to sell coins at inopportune times, yet they need fiat funding (for energy, racks, and expansion). Crypto-backed lending lets them borrow against BTC holdings, preserving upside while securing ruble liquidity—similar to inventory or receivables financing in other sectors, but with bitcoin collateral instead of steel or grain. Sberbank’s pilot shows at least one large lender is willing to underwrite that model under controlled conditions.
For banks, the transaction is a testbed for crypto custody, valuation haircuts, and liquidation playbooks. It also dovetails with Sberbank’s broader digital-asset posture: in 2025 the bank moved to offer crypto custody services domestically, positioning itself to safeguard Russian digital assets under evolving rules. A lender cannot make crypto-secured loans at scale without robust custody; pairing the two is a logical step.
The policy backdrop: rules are shifting
The Bank of Russia outlined a new crypto framework in late December 2025 that would allow retail and qualified investors to access cryptocurrencies under testing and caps, with a phased rollout into 2026–2027. While crypto remains prohibited for domestic payments, the central bank has moved from blanket opposition to a regulated-access model, and authorities have already allowed limited use in international trade. Sberbank’s pilot arrives against that backdrop of gradual normalization and gives regulators a live case to observe.
In practice, the pilot helps answer the questions supervisors care about: How is collateral priced? What haircuts are used? How are private keys stored and monitored? What events of default trigger collateral liquidation—and on which venues? By running the loan with bank-run custody, Sber can demonstrate auditability and control—key points for any future guidance from the central bank.
What Sberbank and Intelion said
Official materials emphasize three ideas: (1) the crypto collateral came from the miner’s own production; (2) the bank stored it using a proprietary custody solution based on Rutoken hardware; and (3) the transaction is explicitly experimental, meant to inform a broader product set that could apply not only to miners but potentially to companies holding crypto on balance sheet. Neither Sberbank nor Intelion disclosed the amount of crypto pledged or the loan’s size, a common choice when banks test new collateral types.
What’s next—and what to watch
- Regulatory codification (2026): The Bank of Russia’s proposals still need to be formalized and implemented. Expect clarifications on custody standards, investor protections, disclosures, and the treatment of crypto as collateral in credit risk rules.
- Scaling beyond pilots: If early performance is strong—i.e., no custody incidents, orderly margining/liquidation—Sber and peers may broaden crypto-secured credit beyond miners to corporates that treasury bitcoin or other digital assets.
- Haircuts and volatility: With bitcoin price volatility, banks will likely maintain conservative loan-to-value ratios and dynamic margining. How those guardrails compare with commodity-backed or FX-collateralized loans will be a key signal of comfort levels.
- Collateral liquidity routes: Should a default occur, the custody stack and the choice of liquidation venues will matter. Sberbank’s in-house custody suggests a preference for on-shore control.
Big picture
The symbolism is hard to miss. For years, Russian banks—and many global lenders—treated crypto as unbankable. In 2025, we saw a series of steps toward institutionalization: custody offerings, policy proposals, and now secured lending that treats bitcoin like other forms of collateral (with extra controls). Sberbank’s pilot doesn’t rewrite Russia’s rules overnight; crypto is still not legal tender, and consumer protections remain a focus for the central bank. But it does provide a working template for credit products that use crypto without selling it—a model miners and treasury-holders have been asking for.