Sber and Rostelecom have entered into an agreement to develop the Web3Gate service – a platform for working with cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets. The project is intended to provide retail and corporate clients with access to popular public blockchains, including Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Sber expects that the partnership will help integrate digital currencies and tokenized assets into the bank's ecosystem. Planned functions include the exchange and storage of cryptocurrencies, the tokenization of real assets, and lending against digital currencies. Separately, the bank is working on a secure bridge between its own blockchain platform and the Ethereum network.
The pilot project with Rostelecom based on Web3Gate should help test the service in real conditions and understand how convenient such products can be for clients. Sber talks about the task of creating simple and understandable tools for working with Web3, and Rostelecom – about testing the platform's potential in practice.
The project launch comes against the backdrop of preparations for regulating the Russian crypto market. The bill on digital currency and digital rights has already passed its first reading in the State Duma. It describes categories of regulated market participants – exchanges, brokers, management companies, depositories, and exchangers, and also establishes rules for access to cryptocurrencies for qualified and unqualified investors.
Sber is already developing products related to crypto investments. Clients have access to structured bonds and digital financial assets, through which they can invest in individual cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum or in baskets of digital assets. In addition, the bank is testing tools from the DeFi sector.
At the end of 2025, Sber already conducted a pilot transaction for lending against cryptocurrency. The loan was received by the miner Intelion, and the cryptocurrency mined by it served as collateral. For storing digital assets, the bank used its own development based on the Rutoken hardware solution.
