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Sberbank moves toward crypto-backed lending as Russia readies regulation

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Sberbank moves toward crypto-backed lending as Russia readies regulation

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, is moving toward offering loans secured by cryptocurrency and said Friday it is prepared to coordinate with the country’s central bank on shaping the necessary regulatory framework, according to Reuters.

The lender has already tested the model in January. The bank issued the country’s first bitcoin-backed loan to one of its largest bitcoin miners, IntelionData, calling the transaction a pilot and suggesting it was keen to issue more in the future.

The volume of digital financial asset issuances on the platform hit 408 billion rubles (about $5.3 billion) in 2025 — an increase of 5.6 times versus 2024 (73 billion rubles, or $948 million) and 204 times greater than 2023 (2 billion rubles or $26 million).

Sberbank’s regulated digital financial asset (DFA) business expanded rapidly in 2025, with total issuance reaching RUB 408 billion ($4.9 billion), more than 5.6 times the 2024 level, while the bank’s own DFA holdings grew sevenfold in six months to RUB 185 billion ($2.2 billion).

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The growth comes alongside a still-dominant traditional balance sheet: in December, Sber’s corporate loan portfolio stood at RUB 30.4 trillion ($365 billion), its retail loan book at RUB 18.8 trillion ($226 billion), and client deposits at RUB 33.1 trillion ($398 billion), highlighting the relatively small but fast-scaling role of tokenized assets within Russia’s largest lender.

When announcing the trial loan, Anatoly Popov, Sberbank’s deputy chairman, said the bank already offers clients structured bonds and digital financial assets with investments in bitcoin and ether. Popov also said the bank was currently testing decentralized finance (DeFi) instruments and supports the gradual legalization of cryptocurrencies within the Russian legal framework.

Another major lender, Sovcombank, became the first Russian bank to roll out crypto-backed lending on Feb. 5 to individuals and businesses legally holding bitcoin.

In December 2025, it reopened the cryptocurrency market to the public with new rules laid out by the country’s central bank. Officials expect to complete legislation governing crypto assets by July 1, 2026.

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Sberbank said the planned lending program would target not only mining companies but also businesses that hold cryptocurrency on their balance sheets.

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Crypto World

BTC re-takes $70,000 as Michael Saylor addresses Quantum Computing threat

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BTC re-takes $70,000 as Michael Saylor addresses Quantum Computing threat

Crypto markets are adding to overnight gains in U.S. morning trade on Friday, with bitcoin climbing above $68,000, up nearly 17% since hitting $60,000 late yesterday.

Bitcoin is now higher by 2.5% over the past 24 hours. Ether is up 2.2% and solana 2%. Outperforming is XRP , which has climbed to $1.50, now higher by 17% over the last day.

Crypto-related stocks are seeing major upside moves Friday after plunging in the previous session.

Strategy (MSTR) — which reported a $14.2 billion fourth-quarter loss late Thursdy — is higher by 14%, though at $122, still lower by 22% year-to-date. Galaxy Digital (GLXY) is up 15% and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) is up 12%.

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Underperforming on Friday is bitcoin miner-turned AI infrastructure provider IREN (IREN), down 1.8% after disappointing earnings results Thursday night.

Saylor gets serious about Quantum

Those looking for bottom signals are pointing to last night’s Strategy earnings call in which Michael Saylor pledged a commitment to leading a Bitcoin security program that will address the quantum threat.

Some in crypto have argued that bitcoin’s security model faces a serious threat from quantum computing — a threat so imminent that many investors are either selling or refusing to allocate to bitcoin at all.

“Saylor’s announcement tells me prices have finally gotten the Bitcoin community to acknowledge and address quantum risk,” wrote Quinn Thompson.

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Poised for technical bounce

Paul Howard, director at crypto trading firm Wincent, noted that bitcoin is now back at price levels last seen 14 months ago with key momentum indicator RSI flashing deeply oversold conditions. He added that trading volumes in BTC and ETH have surged to their highest in over two years. That technical setup that often invites at least a short-term bounce.

“It would be odd if we did not see at least some short term reversion here,” he said.

Updated (14:55 UTC): Adds price of bitocin rising past $70,000.

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Ether’s Technicals and Onchain Data Signals ETH Could Slip below $1.4K

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Ether’s Technicals and Onchain Data Signals ETH Could Slip below $1.4K

Ether (ETH) has fallen by 30% over the past seven days, sliding to $1,900 from $2,800. The drop was accompanied by a sharp decline in futures activity, with Ether’s open interest falling by more than $15 billion over the same period.

Analysts are now focusing on the long-term technical zones and onchain indicators that may signal a major turning point for ETH price.

Key takeaways:

  • Ether has dropped 30% in seven days, slipping below the $2,000 psychological level.

  • Yesterday’s ETH price crash now brings $1,000-$1,400 into focus.

ETH drops with the crypto market

The ETH/USD pair dropped below $2,000 for the first time since May 2025, reaching a nine-month low of $1,740 on Friday. While Ether has since recovered to $1,900 at the time of writing, it has recorded the largest weekly drawdown of 30% among the top-cap cryptocurrencies.

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Related: Trend Research dumps over 400K ETH as liquidation risk rises

Bitcoin (BTC), the market leader, was trading at $66,340 at time of writing, down 21% over the last seven days. Fifth-placed XRP (XRP) has lost more than 21% over the last week to trade just above $1.37. Solana (SOL) has also posted significant losses among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, down 29% over the same period.

As a result, the global crypto market capitalization is down 20% over the week toward $2.23 trillion on Friday.

Performance of top-cap cryptocurrencies: Source: CoinMarketCap

Ether’s slump this week is accompanied by significant long liquidations totaling $400 million over the last 24 hours, signaling intense selling by traders.

The sellers were also US-based spot Ether ETFs, which have recorded $1.1 billion in net outflows in the past two weeks. 

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Spot Ether ETFs flows table. Source: Farside Investors

Coupled with increased selling from other major ETH holders such as Trend Research, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, this points to unrelenting overhead pressure that could push ETH price lower.

How low can ETH price go?

Ether’s bearishness over the last two weeks has seen it lose two key support levels, including the 200-week simple moving average (SMA) and the psychological levels at $3,000 and $2,000.

The last time ETH decisively dropped below the 200-week SMA was in March 2025, which was followed by a 45% drop in price.

If history repeats, the ETH/USD pair will extend the downtrend toward $1,400.

ETH/USD weekly chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

This level aligns with the bearish target of an inverse V-shaped pattern at $1,385, representing a 28% drop from the current price.

As Cointelegraph reported, an inverse cup-and-handle pattern places the downward target at $1,665, while MVRV bands point to a target of $1,725. 

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Onchain analytics platform Lookonchain highlighted three major liquidation zones around $1,500, $1,300 and $1,000, which could act as magnets for Ether’s price before a potential bottom.

Source: Lookonchain

Glassnode’s UTXO realized price distribution (URPD), showing the average prices at which SOL holders bought their coins, reveals that there is little previous volume below $1,900. In other words, buyers might not step in before the price drops to the aforementioned support levels.

The next significant support sits at $1,200, where approximately 1.5 million ETH were previously acquired.

ETH: UTXO realized price distribution (URPD). Source: Glassnode