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A ruble-backed stablecoin linked to sanctioned Russian financial networks processed more than $100bn in onchain transactions in under a year, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
Elliptic said the A7A5 token was designed to reduce exposure to Western financial sanctions by routing value through crypto markets.
The stablecoin’s transaction volumes surged after its launch in early 2025 before slowing in the second half of the year.
Elliptic said sanctions enforcement and exchange compliance measures significantly restricted A7A5’s usability.
The $100bn 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 said, adding that transaction fees indicated economic benefit to users.
Elliptic found that A7A5 primarily functioned as a bridge between rubles and USDT markets.
The structure allowed users to access dollar liquidity while limiting exposure to wallets vulnerable to Western asset freezes.
Trading activity was concentrated on a small number of venues, including exchanges based in Kyrgyzstan.
Elliptic said A7A5’s growth slowed sharply around mid-2025, with transaction volumes falling from $1.5bn to about $500m.
“The US sanctions in August 2025 appear to have had the largest impact,”
Tom Robinson said, citing a sharp drop in USDT liquidity.
In November 2025, Uniswap added A7A5 to its token blocklist, restricting trading through its web interface.
The European Union formally sanctioned A7A5 in October, describing it as a tool to bypass Russia-related financial restrictions.
“While the US dollar dominates the global economy, there are structural limits to how far a stablecoin such as this can grow,”
Tom Robinson said.