Russia's Sberbank Preps Bitcoin-Backed Loans as New Crypto Law Takes Effect Tuesday, While Trump's World Liberty Wins Preliminary Bank Charter

Russia's central bank is about to let the country's biggest lender treat Bitcoin like collateral on a mortgage. Sberbank, Russia's largest financial institution, plans to accept Bitcoin as security for corporate loans, with Ethereum and Tether to follow, according to a TASS report cited by Crypto Briefing.

Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of Sberbank's management board, said the bank has already run the model in practice. Sberbank tested crypto-backed lending in a December 2025 pilot with mining firm AO Intelion Data, using self-mined cryptocurrency as collateral, Crypto Briefing reported. Popov said Ethereum and Tether would join Bitcoin as eligible collateral once the Bank of Russia formally authorizes them for public circulation and the rest of the new law's provisions take effect. A separate report from the Russian outlet www1.ru carried the same Popov comments, adding that Sberbank considers itself ahead of the regulatory curve. The bank is also building out crypto custody services, according to Crypto News.

The Law Behind the Move

The timing coincides with Russia's new digital-asset law. Federal Law No. 282-FZ, "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights," was signed Aug. 4 and takes effect Tuesday, Sept. 1, according to cryptoticker.io.

The law sets strict eligibility criteria for which cryptocurrencies banks and exchanges can touch: average market capitalization above 5 trillion rubles (roughly $61 billion), daily trading volume above 1 trillion rubles (roughly $12 billion) over the prior two years, and at least five years of price history on foreign platforms. Right now, only Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether clear that bar, cryptoticker.io reported, matching what Central Bank First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin had signaled during the legislative process.

The Bank of Russia published a draft directive naming those three assets for public trading on Aug. 11, with a public comment window that closed Aug. 24, just a week before the broader law takes effect. Russian state media reported the move as a done deal even while the regulator's own process was still a draft open for feedback. The underlying law goes live Tuesday.

The Retail Catch

The framework draws a hard line between two classes of investor. Non-qualified retail buyers face an annual cap of 300,000 rubles in crypto purchases per licensed intermediary, roughly $3,690 to $3,800 depending on the exchange rate used by crypto.news and cryptoticker.io, and must pass a risk-knowledge test first.

Qualified investors get a much bigger runway, though the reports don't fully agree on how big. Cryptoticker.io described no purchase cap at all for qualified investors. Crypto.news described a tier of "qualified retail investors" getting a limit ten times higher, up to 3 million rubles annually. Neither source resolves the discrepancy, and it may reflect two different qualification tiers under the law rather than a contradiction.

Cryptoticker.io cited central bank data showing roughly 98% of Russian investors sit in the non-qualified, capped tier. The Bank of Russia is opening a new path to qualified status. Starting Monday, Aug. 31, Russians can qualify by passing a domestic financial-knowledge test and presenting a Russian-issued credential, such as a Qualifin Certificate from the National Finance Association or a MOEX Investor Certificate from the Moscow Exchange, instead of needing international designations like the CFA, according to crypto.news. Deputy Governor Mikhail Mamuta said the goal is making qualification "more accessible and deliberate," adding that "the actual level of their knowledge is much more important" than simply growing the number of qualified investors on paper.

Crypto still cannot be used to pay for goods and services inside Russia under any tier, a restriction the law deliberately preserves, according to coinspot.io. Starting Sept. 1, individuals, sole proprietors and companies will be allowed to transfer Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT abroad for foreign economic transactions, Cifra Markets executive director Alexey Korolenko told coinspot.io. Grigory Klumov, an asset manager and stablecoin platform founder, told the same outlet that regulators haven't yet determined which organized platforms will handle the trading, leaving it unclear how international exchanges like Binance fit into the new system. Licensed exchanges and brokers have until July 1, 2027 to get formally approved, cryptoticker.io reported.

When the Bank of Russia's plans went public Aug. 11, Bitcoin was trading around $64,000, down about 1.6% that day, cryptoticker.io reported. The market shrugged.

Meanwhile in Washington

On Friday, Aug. 28, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval for World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture co-founded by President Trump and his sons, to establish a national trust bank, according to Breitbart. The proposed World Liberty Trust Company would issue and redeem the firm's USD1 stablecoin and safeguard digital assets for institutional clients. It would not be allowed to take insured deposits or make conventional loans.

USD1 launched in March 2025 and has grown into the fourth-largest stablecoin, with a market value of about $4 billion, per Breitbart. It's currently issued by BitGo Bank & Trust. Under the approved plan, World Liberty Trust would take over issuance and reserve custody, putting USD1 under direct federal banking supervision. The charter isn't final. World Liberty must maintain at least $20 million in capital, with at least half in liquid assets, and the OCC can modify or rescind the approval, Breitbart reported. The trust would be headquartered in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, objected before the decision. At a February hearing, she urged Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould to reject the application, said approving it would make him an "accomplice" to corruption, and pressed for the unredacted application and disclosure of investors tied to the United Arab Emirates, according to Breitbart. No investigation or formal charge has been announced against World Liberty Financial or the administration over the arrangement. Warren's objection is a political and oversight complaint, not a legal finding.

Gould declined to discuss confidential portions of the filing and told Warren, "the only political pressure I have felt from any part of the United States Government, Senator, is from you." The OCC said career employees and examiners reviewed the application under standard procedures, and that Congress had explicitly recognized uninsured national banks' authority to issue stablecoins when it passed the GENIUS Act.

Both claims sit unresolved: Warren's conflict-of-interest concern and the OCC's insistence the review followed ordinary channels. Neither side has produced evidence settling the dispute, and no regulator or court has ruled on it.

World Liberty still has to satisfy the OCC's capital conditions before final approval. Russia's licensed-intermediary system still has no named participants for the September rollout, meaning the practical mechanics of who actually processes a Bitcoin trade in Moscow or a USD1 transfer in Bay Harbor Islands remain open questions on both sides of the ledger.