This sanctioned Russian stablecoin claims it processes billions, but blockchain analysts disagree
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- A7A5 claims roughly $205 million in average daily trading volume and says it processed $34.4 billion between January 1 and June 17, with director of regulatory affairs Oleg Ogienko attributing the activity to decentralized finance platforms where users can trade without identifying themselves.
- TRM Labs analyst Chris Keegan placed the token's real daily volume closer to $75 million, estimating that 34% of observed transactions are circular fund movements and noting that volumes routinely collapse on weekends because activity is tied to business-to-business transfers via the Russia-linked Grinex exchange.
- Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson said monthly transaction volumes have fallen more than 90% since January and are down 96% from last year's peak, a trend he linked to U.S., EU and UK sanctions and the earlier collapse of Grinex.
- A7A5's Ogienko rejected both analytics firms' conclusions, arguing that CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko and DeFiLlama rely too heavily on centralized exchange data and create what he called a discriminatory approach contrary to United Nations principles.
- A7A5 is a ruble-pegged stablecoin backed by deposits at Promsvyazbank, a sanctioned Russian bank; it launched in Kyrgyzstan in early 2025 and was itself sanctioned by the EU, U.K. and U.S. last year.
- Russia recently sanctioned 17-year-old Alexander Browder for his Henry Jackson Society report alleging that A7A5 has been used to fund the war effort against Ukraine, with the Russian Foreign Ministry accusing him of spreading defamatory speculation.
- Sanctions specialist Kaitlin Martin said A7A5 remains largely confined to a Russia-linked ecosystem because Western sanctions block most global venues from listing it, though users can still swap the token into other cryptocurrencies via Russia-linked services for cross-border payments including commodities trade.
Why it matters: Elliptic's finding that A7A5 is down 96% from peak volume suggests Western sanctions and Grinex's collapse are undercutting the token's stated mission of routing payments outside Western financial channels — yet Martin's assessment shows the token still feeds cross-border commodities trade through Russia-linked crypto swaps, meaning the evasion pipeline is degraded but not shut.
