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Russian patents office green-lights Tether’s tokenisation trademark request – DL News

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  • Tether applied for Hadron trademark in October.
  • Patents office grants Tether right to use trademark until 2035.
  • USDT usage has become controversial in Russia.

Russia’s patents office has granted Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, approval for a trademark for the Hadron tokenisation platform.

Tether submitted its application to the Russian Federal Intellectual Property Office, known as Rospatent, in October 2025, the Russian newspaper RIA Novosti reported on January 10.

Rospatent reviewed the application late last year and approved it earlier this month, the outlet wrote.

The development indicates Tether is looking to get in on Russia’s fast-growing crypto and private blockchain market, which is currently dominated by large domestic banks and other large Russian companies.

Expanding market

Rospatent’s decision means Tether now holds exclusive rights to the trademark in the country, with its validity expiring on October 3, 2035.

The government body notes that trademark “covers blockchain financial services, cryptocurrency trading and exchange, crypto-related financial advice, crypto payment processing, and related consultancy services.”

Tether launched Hadron in November 2024, calling it a tokenisation platform that lets firms release fractionalised stocks, bonds, rewards points, corporate equity, and commodities as digital tokens on a blockchain network.

However, Tether’s recent history in Russia is chequered. Less than a year ago, Tether froze $28 million worth of USDT on the Russian crypto exchange Garantex, apparently at the behest of the US Secret Service.

At the time, Garantex said that Tether had “entered the war against the Russian crypto market.”

“Please note that all USDT held in Russian wallets is now under threat,” Garantex said. In May, the Russian central bank followed up by updating its rules on crypto trading within its cross-border trade sandbox.

The sandbox allows Russian firms to use crypto as a payment tool with international partners, using unnamed crypto exchanges that operate under the central bank’s supervision.

The rules noted that coins used in the sandbox “must not be related to securities issued by hostile issuers.”

Experts told the Russian media outlet RBC this would necessarily include both USDT and Circle’s USD Coin.

Tokenisation gathers momentum

The central bank has since followed up with other warnings about the dangers for Russians of using coins and exchanges that are subject to sanctions-related requests from US, UK, and EU regulators.

Tokenisation is already a multi-billion-dollar industry in Russia. The central bank announced in December that the Russian private blockchain-powered token industry is already worth $13 billion.

Russian banks, metals firms, and stock exchanges have released tokens tied to the value of precious metals, real estate, and commodities like cocoa beans.

Yields on short-term digital tokens last year outperformed short-term bond yields by an average of 1.7%, Vitaly Plotnikov, the deputy director of the central bank’s financial market infrastructure department, told the Russian news agency Interfax in December.

Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.

Nexo Launches Zero-Interest Crypto Loans for Bitcoin and Ether Holders

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Nexo has launched a zero-interest crypto lending product that allows Bitcoin and Ether holders to borrow against their assets through fixed-term loans.

According to a company announcement, the product, called Zero-interest Credit, offers fixed-term loans for users who hold Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH (ETH), with repayment conditions set in advance. Loans are settled at maturity and can be repaid using either stablecoins or collateral, depending on market conditions.

The offering expands a structured lending model that had previously been available only through Nexo’s private and OTC channels, where it facilitated more than $140 million in borrowing during 2025, according to the company.

Borrowers choose the loan size and duration up front, with terms that prevent liquidation before maturity and define the repayment range. At the end of the term, loans can be settled using either stablecoins or collateral, with the option to renew under new terms.

Nexo is a crypto financial services company founded in 2018 that offers crypto-backed loans, trading and savings services to users across 150 jurisdictions.

In April 2025, the company said that it would reenter the US market after withdrawing in late 2022 and settling a case with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $45 million in early 2023.

Related: Babylon receives $15M from a16z Crypto to expand Bitcoin-native lending

Defi lending grew in 2025

Crypto lending has evolved significantly since 2022, when companies such as Celsius and BlockFi were widely blamed for amplifying market contagion and deepening the fallout from the FTX collapse.

In 2025, centralized lenders including Nexo, Ledn, Xapo Bank and Coinbase expanded their crypto lending offerings under more conservative, fully collateralized structures, while decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols also recorded strong growth.

According to DefiLlama data, DeFi lending products grew from about $48.15 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Jan. 1, 2025, to a peak of $91.98 billion on Oct. 7, 2025.

DeFi lending total value locked. Source: DefiLlama

Although the market trended lower following the Oct. 10 crypto liquidation event, activity stabilized in November and total value locked (TVL) currently stands at around $66 billion.

The DeFi lending market is led by Aave, with more than $22 billion in outstanding loans backed by over $55 billion in deposited assets, according to DefiLlama data.

Morpho ranks second, supporting roughly $3.6 billion in outstanding loans backed by about $10 billion in supplied liquidity.

Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026