Russia’s largest bank Sber offers up Bitcoin-linked bonds

Russia’s largest commercial bank, Sber has launched a Bitcoin-linked bond product that tracks the cryptocurrency’s change in price and the dollar-to-ruble exchange rate.

The product is already available to qualified investors in the over-the-counter market, and Sber plans to list the product on the Moscow Stock Exchange in the future, the company formerly known as Sberbank said in a statement on May 30.

The listing will ensure transparency, liquidity and convenience for a wide range of qualified investors, Sber added.

Sber said the structural bond could allow holders to earn income from the change in dollar value in Bitcoin (BTC) and the strengthening of the dollar against the Russian ruble.

🇷🇺 LATEST: Russia’s largest bank Sberbank launches structured bonds tied to Bitcoin and USD/RUB, with $BTC futures set to list on Moscow Exchange June 4. pic.twitter.com/kR8r6qguHS

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) June 2, 2025

The bank said that all transactions are carried out in rubles within Russia’s regulatory framework, so investors don’t need to rely on crypto wallets or unregulated platforms.

Sber said it would also offer exchange-traded products providing exposure to crypto on its SberInvestments platform — starting with a Bitcoin futures product, which the bank said should be listed on June 4 once the Moscow Exchange officially launches the product.

Russia’s top bank gives the green light to crypto products

Sber’s move comes as Russia’s central bank permitted financial institutions to offer certain crypto financial instruments to accredited investors on May 28.

However, a key stipulation of the Bank of Russia’s announcement was that financial institutions could not offer cryptocurrencies directly.

Related: Bitcoin price dips under $104K as Russia-Ukraine woes rile US stocks

The Moscow-based T-Bank, formerly Tinkoff Bank, rolled out an investment product tied to Bitcoin’s price on the same day, referring to the product as a “smart asset” that is issued through the Russian state-backed tokenization platform Atomyze.

The central bank reported that Russian residents hold around 827 billion rubles ($9.2 billion) worth of crypto on centralized exchanges in its review of the first quarter of 2025. 

Inflows into Russian crypto platforms also rose 51% to 7.3 trillion rubles ($81.5 billion) over the same timeframe, the same report found.

Bitcoin holds a 62% share on Russian crypto exchanges, followed by Ether (ETH) at 22% and stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USDC (USDC).

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