Russia’s state-owned Sberbank said on 17 July it plans to begin offering custody services for domestic cryptocurrency assets, positioning the country’s largest lender at the centre of a nascent digital-asset market. The bank told a Moscow forum it has already submitted proposals to the Bank of Russia and aims to safeguard clients’ tokens in a manner similar to traditional bank deposits. Anatoly Pronin, who heads alternative payment solutions at Sberbank, said the lender would guarantee clients’ asset security and that custody arrangements would allow authorities to freeze holdings if wrongdoing is suspected—mirroring existing practice for conventional accounts. The move follows the central bank’s gradual softening toward digital assets; last year it backed legislation allowing companies to use cryptocurrencies in cross-border trade to help offset Western sanctions. Market specialists such as Insight Finance’s Gleb Zemskoy argue that local custody services are essential to reduce reliance on foreign providers and to expand Russia’s digital-asset infrastructure.