Key facts
- A7A5, a Russian ruble-pegged stablecoin, claims an average daily trading volume of approximately $205 million.
- The token's issuer states it has processed $34.4 billion between January 1 and June 17.
- Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs estimates A7A5's average daily volume at around $75 million, with declining activity.
- TRM Labs also reported that about 34% of A7A5's transaction volume appears to be circular.
- Elliptic stated that A7A5's monthly transaction volumes have fallen by over 90% since January.
- A7A5 was sanctioned by the EU, UK, and US and is allegedly designed to evade Western sanctions.
A dispute has emerged between the issuer of A7A5, a Russian ruble-pegged stablecoin, and blockchain analytics firms regarding the token's actual usage. A7A5 claims to process over $200 million in average daily volume, largely through decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and has facilitated $34.4 billion in transactions this year. However, firms like TRM Labs and Elliptic contest these figures, estimating significantly lower daily volumes and pointing to a sharp decline in activity. TRM Labs suggests that approximately 34% of A7A5's transactions are circular, artificially inflating usage. Elliptic notes a more than 90% drop in monthly transaction volumes since January, attributing this decline to Western sanctions and the collapse of the Russia-linked exchange Grinex.
Oleg Ogienko, A7A5's director for regulatory affairs, denied these claims, arguing that DeFi-based activity is not fully captured by traditional data providers and that metrics relying on centralized exchanges are outdated. He stated that these providers offer an "objective information" contrary to UN principles. A7A5, backed by deposits at the sanctioned Promsvyazbank, was launched in early 2025 and has been sanctioned by the EU, UK, and US. A sanctions specialist, Kaitlin Martin, noted that Western sanctions have largely confined A7A5 to a Russia-linked ecosystem, though funds can still be swapped into other cryptocurrencies via Russian services for cross-border payments. The situation highlights the challenges in tracking crypto activities, particularly those designed to evade global sanctions and operate on DeFi exchanges.