Russian Stablecoin Transfers Exceed 6 Billion Since August: FT

Russian Entity Moves $6.1 Billion Through A7A5 Stablecoin A Russian-controlled cryptocurrency entity has processed $6.1 billion in transactions using the A7A5 stablecoin since August 2025, despite US sanctions, according to the Financial Times (FT) . The A7A5 stablecoin is part of A7, Russia's growing cross-border payments ￰0￱ was created as an alternative to the US-dominated financial system, from which Russian banks were cut off following Russian-Ukranian ￰1￱ reported that operators liquidated most of their tokens after the Kyrgyz exchange Grinex and Old Vector (issuer of A7A5) were added to the sanctions list. Grinex, launched by the Garantex team, was also ￰2￱ A7A5 Operators Conceal Transactions The FT noted that A7A5 administrators destroyed wallets to conceal the assets' links to Garantex and ￰3￱ 33.8 billion tokens, worth approximately $405 million, were removed, and the same number of tokens were issued in a new wallet. ” Unlike a regular transfer, this method breaks the link between old and new accounts, making it difficult to connect sanctioned tokens with newly created ones ,” the journalists ￰4￱ new wallet showed patterns similar to previous cases: interacting with 11 counterparties, processing transfers mainly during business hours in Moscow, with peak activity from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, and minimal activity at night and on ￰5￱ on the TRON and Ethereum blockchains appear to have learned from prior liquidations, including the Garantex case.

A7A5 Gains Official Status and Expands Market Share The FT highlighted that A7A5 has received official recognition in Russia and is backed by rubles through Promsvyazbank, which owns 49% of A7's infrastructure and is also ￰6￱ experts estimate that A7 could now capture a significant share of Russia’s cross-border payments ￰7￱ cryptocurrencies, the network offers traditional services, including payments via promissory ￰8￱ March 2025, USDT issuer Tether froze $28 million in addresses linked to Garantex, illustrating ongoing challenges in sanction enforcement.