EU targets ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5 in new sanctions push

The European Union is moving to impose sanctions on A7A5, a ruble-backed stablecoin tied to sanctioned Russian actors, according to internal documents allegedly reviewed by ￰0￱ proposal would block any direct or indirect transactions between EU-based entities and the ￰1￱ would also hit several banks in Russia, Belarus, and Central Asia that have been facilitating crypto-related payments linked to ￰2￱ have said that all 27 member states must approve the plan before it takes ￰3￱ of press time, A7A5, A7, and Promsvyazbank (PSB) have not answered emailed requests for comment. A7A5 was developed by A7, a cross-border payments company owned by Moldovan fugitive banker Ilan Shor and the Russian state-owned lender ￰4￱ entities are already under Western ￰5￱ to regulatory records, Shor and his subsidiaries built channels for Russian businesses to keep making international payments disrupted by U.

S. sanctions, often through arrangements with Russian crypto exchange Garantex, also ￰6￱ was blacklisted by the UK, EU, and ￰7￱ 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Garantex, which helped set up A7A5, was sanctioned that same year, while A7 itself was sanctioned earlier this ￰8￱ blocks engagement with A7A5-linked networks Elliptic data shows there were 41.6 billion A7A5 tokens in circulation worth $496 million on September ￰9￱ total volume of transactions hit $68 billion by that ￰10￱ in Kyrgyzstan, A7A5 has become the largest ￰11￱ stablecoin globally with a market cap of about $500 million, capturing 43% of the $1.2 billion non-dollar stablecoin market, according to CoinMarketCap and ￰12￱ its Telegram channel, the project said it had “proven that a national digital currency can be not only an alternative to the dollar but also a driver of global change.” The token drew scrutiny at the Token2049 conference in Singapore, where its presence triggered questions about sanctions compliance and cross-border ￰13￱ in February, A7A5 was described as being “backed by a diversified portfolio of fiat deposits held in reliable banks within Kyrgyzstan’s network.” It is pegged 1:1 to the Russian ruble and offers daily passive income equal to half of the interest on those ￰14￱ issued on Ethereum and Tron, it was promoted as a cross-chain digital ruble for regional ￰15￱ after launch, blockchain investigators linked it to Grinex, a crypto exchange called the successor to the sanctioned ￰16￱ mid-August, the ￰17￱ announced new sanctions against Garantex and related entities, identifying Ilan Shor as the owner of A7A5’s issuer, PSB, already under heavy ￰18￱ runs A7 with PSB to skirt sanctions The United Kingdom has also imposed restrictions on several Kyrgyz banks, citing evidence that Russia used A7A5 to bypass Western financial ￰19￱ London and Washington said the token was part of Moscow’s network for avoiding dollar-denominated payment ￰20￱ from the European Commission have refused to comment on the sanctions proposal until it is formally ￰21￱ Shor, 37, is a former Moldovan politician wanted for what authorities call “the theft of the century,” a $1 billion fraud about a decade ￰22￱ regulatory filings show he set up intermediary companies with sanctioned partners to enable Russian businesses to keep conducting foreign trade disrupted by ￰23￱ firms, facing months-long delays for cross-border payments, have turned to these intermediaries to settle deals within five working days, according to one company website tied to ￰24￱ contrasts sharply with the multi-month waits some Russian companies now ￰25￱ and PSB, which is Russia’s main lender for its military-industrial sector and under some of the harshest U.

S. sanctions, launched A7 to facilitate cross-border ￰26￱ documents from September show Shor holding a 51% stake and PSB holding 49%. A business partner in one of Shor’s ventures, who asked not to be named, confirmed his co-ownership of ￰27￱ firm advertises settlement “with any country and in any currency within five working days,” offering a channel for Russian-linked money ￰28￱ infrastructure, combined with A7A5’s surge to the top of the non-dollar stablecoin market, is what prompted the EU to prepare its latest sanctions ￰29￱ your free seat in an exclusive crypto trading community - limited to 1,000 members.