Kyrgyz-issued token reaches 29,000 wallets as Western enforcement targets choke points
A Russian ruble-backed stablecoin called A7A5 has processed over $110 billion in cumulative onchain transactions while operating under Western sanctions, according to analysis by CertiK, a blockchain security firm.
A7A5 was issued in January 2025 by Old Vector LLC, a Kyrgyz entity acting on behalf of A7 LLC, a Russian cross-border-settlement firm co-owned by Moldovan-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor and Promsvyazbank, a Russian state-owned defense sector lender. The token holds 43% of the global non-US dollar stablecoin market, with trading volume reaching $11.2 billion in A7A5/RUB pairs and $6.1 billion in A7A5/USDT trades.
The European Union adopted its 19th sanctions package on October 23, 2025, prohibiting A7A5 transactions effective November 12, 2025. Despite this enforcement action, A7A5 holder count grew from 13,000 wallets in February 2025 to 29,000 in May 2026.
A7A5 was designed to replicate Tether’s stablecoin utility while keeping issuance, reserves, and freezing authority outside Western-controlled infrastructure. The token’s smart contracts for wallet and fund freezes are controlled entirely by Russian and Kyrgyz developers. A7A5’s reserves sit in Central Asian banking networks, predominantly in Kyrgyzstan and the Russian banking system.
Jonathan Riss, OSINT and blockchain intelligence analyst at CertiK, described the enforcement challenge in a statement: “While Western regulators cannot directly rewrite the Ethereum or Tron blockchain to erase A7A5, the EU’s 19th package and parallel US/UK actions target the physical and digital choke points.”
A7A5 distributes through decentralized finance liquidity pools on Curve and Uniswap, reducing reliance on centralized exchanges. Grinex, the successor to Garantex, has served as a primary trading venue. The US Secret Service seized the Garantex domain in March 2025. Tether froze approximately $28 million in USDT held by Garantex-controlled wallets.
Garantex previously functioned as a laundering venue for Conti, Black Basta, LockBit, and illicit funds attributed to North Korean-linked actors. In February 2023, $30 million from a 2022 Horizon Bridge hack was sent to Garantex.
Ilan Shor holds a 51% ownership stake in A7 LLC. He fled Moldova in 2019 and was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in 2023, related to the theft of approximately $1 billion from three Moldovan banks in 2014. Shor ceased serving as a Moldovan parliament member in 2017.
CertiK described A7A5 as one of the clearest examples of a sanctions-evasion stablecoin ecosystem. Russian authorities recognized A7A5 under the country’s digital financial asset framework, providing domestic legitimacy to the token despite international sanctions.
