Russia's $46B Bitcoin Collateral Bet
September 1, 2026
In this Final Settlement episode from Onramp Media, hosts Michael Tanguma, Liam Nelson, and Brian discuss Russia's largest bank moving to accept bitcoin, ETH, and USDT as loan collateral, BitGo's acquisition of NYDIG's institutional trading business, and the SEC's proposed crypto custody overhaul. They also cover tokenized real-world assets and Robinhood's growing on-chain settlement volume.
Michael, Liam, and Brian open on BitGo acquiring NYDIG's institutional trading business for a reported $42.5 million, and on Russia's largest bank moving to accept bitcoin, ETH, and USDT as loan collateral while forecasting $46 billion of regulated crypto exchange trading in year one. They get into why a sanctioned, energy rich sovereign is the one recollateralizing first, Blockstream's new post quantum signature proposal, and the SEC sending a crypto custody overhaul to the White House with the Clarity Act stalled. The back half is market plumbing: why settlement is the real prize, the tokenized GLD that spiked to $2,000 on Robinhood over the weekend against $400 for the underlying, bank tokenized deposits, and Robinhood's chain now out-earning every Ethereum L2. They close on Hyperliquid, trading Anthropic shares on entropy.io, the Singularity Stack report, NVIDIA buying Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, and a $400 robot duck that talks over Nostr.
Chapters
00:00 - Bessent, Warsh, and the bond market 03:32 - BitGo acquires NYDIG's institutional trading business 07:47 - What BitGo actually gets: liquidity, scale, and stickiness 11:24 - Russia's largest bank moves on BTC, ETH, and USDT 12:56 - Recollateralizing the global financial system 15:34 - Energy rich and sanctioned: why Russia goes first 18:14 - Is the US behind, or already through the door? 20:58 - Blockstream's quantum fix and the Shrinks proposal 24:14 - The SEC preps an overhaul of crypto custody rules 28:35 - Why settlement is the prize: DTC, IOUs, and T+0 33:10 - Tokenized GLD spikes to $2,000 on Robinhood 35:04 - Tokenized deposits, bank consortiums, and JP Morgan 38:31 - Robinhood chain now out-earns every Ethereum L2 43:54 - Hyperliquid, Trump, and 24/7 commodities 47:16 - Trading Anthropic shares on entropy.io 51:12 - The Singularity Stack report and Onramp is hiring 56:13 - NVIDIA buys Hugging Face, and a $400 robot duck on Nostr
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Russia's largest bank accepting bitcoin as loan collateral?
Around the 11:24 and 15:34 timestamps, the hosts point to Russia's sanctioned status and energy resources as reasons a state-linked bank can move first on crypto collateral without the same regulatory friction banks in the US or EU face. The bank is also forecasting $46 billion in regulated crypto exchange trading in its first year.
What did BitGo acquire from NYDIG?
Around the 3:32 mark, the hosts explain that BitGo acquired NYDIG's institutional trading business for a reported $42.5 million, adding liquidity, scale, and stickiness to BitGo's institutional offering.
What crypto custody changes is the SEC considering?
At the 24:14 timestamp, the hosts note the SEC is reportedly sending a crypto custody overhaul to the White House for review, while the broader Clarity Act remains stalled in Congress.
How is Robinhood's blockchain performing compared to Ethereum layer-2 networks?
Discussed around the 38:31 mark, the hosts cite data showing Robinhood's chain is now out-earning every Ethereum L2 in revenue, a shift highlighted alongside the tokenized GLD product that spiked to $2,000 on Robinhood over the weekend.
This episode is editorial and educational content. Onramp does not provide tax, legal, or investment advice. Bitcoin is volatile and may lose value. Past performance does not guarantee future results.