Crypto: Russia-linked A7a5 Stablecoin Processed $100b Before Sanctions Hit:...
Elliptic said the ruble-backed A7A5 token functioned as a bridge into USDT markets before sanctions and exchange controls curbed its growth.
A ruble-backed stablecoin linked to sanctioned Russian financial networks processed more than $100 billion in onchain transactions in less than a year, according to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
In a report published Thursday, Elliptic said the A7A5 stablecoin was designed to operate within a broader framework intended to reduce exposure to Western financial sanctions. The structure allowed Russian-linked businesses to move value through crypto markets while limiting the risk of asset freezes.
Elliptic found that A7A5’s activity surged following its launch in early 2025, before slowing down in the second half of the year as sanctions and compliance actions taken by exchanges and token issuers started to restrict its usability.
Elliptic said the scale and structure of the flows highlight how non-US dollar stablecoins can be designed to support sanctioned trade and how enforcement pressure can still disrupt such systems.
Elliptic said the $100 billion figure represents the cumulative value of all A7A5 transfers recorded on public blockchains, including Ethereum and Tron.
“This is the aggregate value of all A7A5 transfers,” Tom Robinson, the founder and chief scientist at Elliptic, told Cointelegraph.
Elliptic’s analysis shows that A7A5 has primarily functioned as a bridging asset between rubles and Tether’s USDt (USDT), which remains the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin globally.
The company said the structure allowed users to move value into USDT markets without maintaining prolonged exposure to wallets vulnerable to freezes by Western authorities.
The report noted that the stablecoin’s trading activity had been concentrated on a limited number of venues, including Kyrgyzstan-based exchanges and project-linked infrastructure. This reinforces the token’s role as a purpose-built settlement tool rather than a broadly adopted retail stablecoin.
Source: CoinTelegraph
