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A7A5 and Russia sanctions
Russia sanctioned British teenager Alexander Browder, 17, for alleging the ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5 was used in funding the war effort against Ukraine, and the Russian Ministry described the allegations as "defamatory speculations and false information."
“Stablecoins, these cryptocurrencies adopted by an increasing number of individuals and businesses, are also sought after by criminals”
CoinDesk reported that Browder penned a report for the Henry Jackson Society, which the Russian Foreign Ministry described as spreading "defamatory speculations and false information."
CoinDesk said the A7A5 stablecoin was designed to bypass sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
TradingView said A7A5 enabled Russia to transfer billions despite sanctions, adding that more than $100 billion is believed to have flowed through the crypto asset according to data from Elliptic.
On-chain flows and liquidity
TradingView said that in less than a year, A7A5 recorded more than 250,000 on-chain transactions on Ethereum and TRON, and that Elliptic linked these operations to more than $100 billion transferred by Russian crypto wallets often tied to entities under U.S. and European sanctions.
TradingView described A7A5 as relying on ruble deposits held at Promsvyazbank, a state-owned bank, and said the token acts as a bridge between the ruble and USDT.
TradingView reported that the rise of A7A5 slowed markedly starting in the summer of 2025, with the United States imposing direct sanctions on the crypto asset in August and causing a drastic drop in USDT liquidity and the blocking of trades via Uniswap’s web interface.
TradingView added that by late October the European Union followed suit, accusing A7A5 of facilitating transactions related to Russia’s war economy, and said liquidity shortfall caused volumes to fall from $1.5 billion per day to $500 million.
Illicit stablecoin use rises
TRM Labs, as cited by Cryptoast, said illicit entities received $140 billion in stablecoins during 2025, and that this was a record over the five years studied.
“Source: Bill Browder The stablecoin pegged to the ruble processed more than $110 billion in onchain transactions, according to a CertiK report this week”
Cryptoast reported that A7A5 accounts for $72 billion of the $141 billion counted by TRM Labs, and said the activity is almost entirely concentrated within sanction-related ecosystems.
BFM said TRM Labs found illicit networks received about $141 billion in stablecoins in 2025, and that stablecoins account for 86% of illicit cryptocurrency flows in 2025.
BFM also said stablecoins are mainly used to circumvent financial sanctions or for money laundering rather than for scams, while noting that the U.S. Senate is studying the contours of the Clarity Act.
