Ruble-denominated stablecoin A7A5 has processed close to $140 billion in turnover since its February 2025 launch, Pyotr Fradkov, CEO of Russia’s PSB Bank, said.
The token is used primarily for cross-border settlements, with around 90% of flows reportedly linked to China. The platform serves roughly 15,000 regular customers and processes around 2,000 payments a day, per Fradkov.
Concentrated Ownership, Declining Trading Activity
The turnover figure diverges sharply from the structure of the underlying market.
One wallet holds 94.5% of A7A5’s Tron-based supply – around $468 million of the roughly $475 million in A7A5 issued across Tron and Ethereum – according to a Crystal Intelligence report published July 30, 2026.
The wallet was created on May 4, 2026, 18 days after the Grinex shutdown, and received its balance almost entirely from a single distributor counterparty.
Daily transfer volumes fell 97% from their March high, dropping from $65 million to below $8 million by July 2026, after restrictions affected parts of the network.
The decline coincided with the shutdown of Grinex, previously A7A5’s main trading venue.
Crystal Intelligence also reported that much of the remaining public activity in the A7A5/USDT pair appears to involve wash trading, with a single address at times accounting for close to half of daily volume.
Settlement Network, Not an Open Trading Market
A7A5 operates through a Kyrgyzstan-registered token and a network of settlement centers and partner institutions, structured so that payments can continue if individual participants lose access to particular financial channels.
“The system is designed in such a way that, even after falling under sanctions… the company continues to carry out payments,” Fradkov said.
Sanctions Exposure
A7A5 and associated entities have been subject to international sanctions, and Uniswap has removed the token from its interface.
TRM Labs’ “Big Shor” investigation linked more than $72 billion of A7A5 transaction volume to activity it classified as illicit.
TRM Labs said it continues tracking flows linked to the token following that investigation.
This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.
Source link
