A ruble-based stablecoin linked to sanctioned Russian financial networks has processed more than $100 billion in onchain transactions in less than a year, according to a recent report from analytics firm Elliptic.
In a report published Thursday, Elliptic he said The A7A5 stablecoin is designed to operate within a broader framework aimed at reducing exposure to Western financial sanctions. The structure allowed Russia-linked companies to move value through cryptocurrency markets while limiting the risk of assets being frozen.
Elliptic found that A7A5 activity spiked after its launch in early 2025, before withering in the second half of the year as sanctions and compliance actions taken by exchanges and token issuers began to limit its usefulness.
Elliptic said the scale and structure of the flows demonstrate how non-US dollar stablecoins can be designed to support sanctioned trade and how enforcement pressures can continue to disrupt such systems.
A7A5’s $100 billion valuation and its role as a USDT bridge
Elliptic says the $100 billion figure represents the cumulative value of all A7A5 transfers recorded on public blockchains, including Ethereum and Tron.
“This is the total value of all A7A5 transfers,” Tom Robinson, founder and chief scientist at Elliptic, told Cointelegraph.
“We do not subjectively assess whether each transaction constitutes a separate business activity, although the fact that transaction fees were paid for all A7A5 transfers suggests that they all benefit the entity of the transaction.”
Elliptic’s analysis shows that A7A5 functioned primarily as a bridge asset between rubles and USDt Tether (USDT), which remains the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin in the world.
The company said the structure enabled users to transfer value to USDT markets without maintaining long-term exposure to wallets susceptible to freezing by Western authorities.
The report noted that the stablecoin’s trading activity was focused on a constrained number of platforms, including exchanges in Kyrgyzstan and project-related infrastructure. This reinforces the token’s role as a purpose-built settlement tool rather than a widely adopted stablecoin.
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Sanctions pressure and currency controls limit growth
Elliptic says the stablecoin’s expansion slowed around mid-2025, with no major issuance since July and transaction volume dropping from a peak of $1.5 billion to around $500 million.
Robinson told Cointelegraph that US sanctions imposed in August 2025 had the most direct and significant impact on the functionality of the stablecoin.
“US sanctions imposed in August 2025 appear to have had the greatest impact,” Robinson said. “Immediately after the US designation, the supply of USDT liquidity on the DEX A7A5 index dropped significantly, removing one of the key benefits of the stablecoin – easy access to USDT on-chain.”
As exchanges took action, additional restrictions emerged. In November 2025, decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap in addition A7A5 to its blocked token list, preventing trading via the web interface.
Elliptic also cited reports of users whose USDT deposits were frozen by exchanges after they were linked to A7A5-linked wallets.
On October 23, the European Union formally imposed sanctions on the A7A5, describing it as a tool to bypass financial constraints related to Russia’s war economy.
Robinson said A7A5’s trajectory illustrates both the potential and limitations of non-dollar stablecoins built for financing in times of sanctions.
“While the US dollar dominates the global economy, there are structural limits to how far such a stablecoin can grow,” Cointelegraph said. “But if that changes, all bets are off.”
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