Sberbank Gains Approval to Provide Bitcoin Custody Services in Russia

Sberbank has been approved to operate as a digital depository in Russia, allowing the country’s largest bank to provide custody and related services for digital currencies, including Bitcoin (BTC).

The Bank of Russia added Sberbank to the country’s first register of digital depositories on Oct. 6. The framework allows registered institutions to record and transfer digital currencies and digital rights and provide clients access to the identifier addresses where those assets are held.

Sberbank plans to begin with Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and Tether’s USDT stablecoin. The bank expects to launch its first cryptocurrency products on Dec. 1 through platforms that customers already use, though the timing depends on regulatory requirements being finalized.

The approval places Sberbank among the first institutions authorized to provide regulated digital-asset infrastructure under Russia’s new cryptocurrency framework, which took effect Sept. 1. The Bank of Russia added five organizations to the digital-depository register and four to a separate register for cryptocurrency exchanges.

Sberbank’s planned launch will give Russian customers access to digital-asset services through a major domestic banking institution, extending regulated custody infrastructure beyond specialized crypto firms.