Crypto03 July, 20263 min read
Russian A7A5 Stablecoin Claims $205 Million Daily Volume as Analysts Say Usage Is Far Lower
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
A7A5 is a ruble-backed stablecoin. EU pursuing sanctions to block Russia's crypto channels, including A7A5.
A7A5 usage dispute
A7A5, a Russian ruble-pegged stablecoin designed to bypass Western financial channels, is at the center of a dispute over how widely it is actually used, with the issuer claiming more than $200 million in average daily volume while blockchain analytics firms say real usage is far lower. CoinDesk reports that A7A5’s director for regulatory affairs, Oleg Ogienko, said the token averages about $205 million in daily trading volume and that most activity takes place in decentralized finance (DeFi). TRM Labs analyst Chris Keegan told CoinDesk that his firm’s analysis places A7A5’s average daily volume closer to $75 million and that about 34% of observed transaction volume consists of circular fund movements that artificially inflate activity.
Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson said monthly transaction volumes have fallen by more than 90% since January and are down 96% from their peak last year, following sanctions imposed by the U.S., the European Union and the United Kingdom and the collapse of Grinex earlier this year. CoinDesk also notes that neither A7A5’s nor the blockchain analytics firms’ claims were independently verified by CoinDesk, even as Ogienko denied the accusations and argued that DeFi activity is not fully captured by major crypto data sites.
Illicit networks and sanctions
A separate TRM Labs study cited by BFM says illicit networks received about $141 billion in stablecoins in 2025, a record amount compared with about $50 billion each year since 2021. BFM adds that the Russian stablecoin A7A5 alone accounts for $81 billion of 2025 transactions and frames stablecoins as “an essential connecting infrastructure for sanctioned actors seeking to transfer value outside traditional financial controls.” The @coindesk report says A7A5 was rolled out in Kyrgyzstan in early 2025 and that last year the EU, U.K. and U.S. sanctioned A7A5 as well, while Russia recently sanctioned British teenager Alexander Browder for his role in exposing the alleged use of A7A5 in funding the war effort against Ukraine.
In the same CoinDesk account, Elliptic’s Robinson argued that A7A5 is failing in its goal of enabling Russian sanctions evasion, saying the cherry-picked figures “conceal the obvious trend: that A7A5 is failing in its goal of enabling Russian sanctions evasion.” CoinDesk also reports that A7A5’s Ogienko said data providers rely too heavily on centralized exchange data and that this creates what he claimed “a generally discriminatory approach, contrary to the principles of the United Nations.”
EU tries to close routes
Multiple outlets describe a tightening push by the European Union to block Russia-linked crypto routes, with Farsnews saying the EU is finalizing a new package of sanctions aimed at closing loopholes that have allowed Russia to use digital currencies to circumvent existing restrictions. Farsnews reports that the Financial Times said the EU, in its twentieth sanctions package, is seeking a ban on all cryptocurrency transactions with Russia, and that an internal document from the European Commission cited by the Financial Times says any further listing of digital-asset service providers would likely lead to the creation of new companies to evade these lists. Farsnews also says the new sanctions package may target the A7 payment platform and its ruble-backed stablecoin, A7A5, while noting that the platform has denied facilitating evasion of sanctions and described the accusations as political and lacking sufficient evidence.
The صرافی ارز دیجیتال article says the EU is examining sanctions that would ban any direct or indirect interactions by EU-based individuals and institutions with A7A5, and it places the token’s market capitalization at about $500 million and 43% of the total non-dollar stablecoin market. It adds that A7A5 was launched in February 2024 in collaboration with Russia’s state-owned Promsvyazbank on the Ethereum and Tron networks, and that final sanctions require approval from all 27 EU member states, according to Bloomberg as quoted in the same piece.