Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, has issued the country’s first corporate loan backed by cryptocurrency, extending financing to one of the nation’s biggest Bitcoin mining firms, Intelion Data.
In a pilot deal, Intelion pledged digital assets it mined as collateral, marking a significant moment in the integration of digital coins into traditional banking practices in Russia.
Sberbank did not disclose the size of the loan, the amount of crypto used as collateral, or the loan’s duration, underscoring that the transaction is experimental rather than a full commercial rollout.
The key to the deal’s risk management was the use of Sberbank’s proprietary digital asset custody solution, Rutoken, which holds the pledged cryptocurrency securely for the duration of the loan, ensuring that the collateral cannot be accessed or used outside the terms of the agreement.
The move comes amid Russia’s broader efforts of utilizing digital assets following its blacklisting from the SWIFT system.
In a recent speech to the Association of Russian Banks, Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Central Bank of Russia, said that a pilot for the digital ruble was “going well,” and that there was a growing interest in smart contracts among Russian banks, businesses and governments.
She says that a group of clients consisting of 1,700 individuals from 15 banks and about 30 companies are participating in the pilot and that an expansion of the program will come at a later date.
“Now we see interest in smart contracts from banks, businesses, and the government. The digital ruble offers many more opportunities for smart contracts, and we want to make this area one of the key ones, one of the priorities in the development of this project. All this, of course, requires additional discussion and preparation.
Therefore, our intention is to move on to the mass implementation of the digital ruble a little later than originally planned, namely after we work out all the details in the pilot and consult with banks on the economic model that is most attractive to their clients – for businesses, for people. We will be able to name a new date for the mass launch later.
I would like to emphasize: the project is ongoing, we will expand it both in terms of the number of participants and the range of operations.”
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