Coin columns · Ethereum City (Capital)
A7A5: The Ruble-Pegged Stablecoin Caught in Western Sanctions
A coin tied 1:1 to the Russian ruble, sanctioned in 2025
A7A5 is a stablecoin (a coin designed to hold the value of one currency) pegged 1:1 to the Russian ruble. Launched in January 2025 for cross-border payments, it was sanctioned by the US, UK and EU the same year.
1. Who made it and who issues it
A7A5 was created by A7, a Russian cross-border payments company, and is formally issued by Old Vector, a company registered in Kyrgyzstan. A7’s main shareholders are reported to be Ilan Shor, a sanctioned Moldovan businessman, and Promsvyazbank (PSB), a sanctioned Russian state-owned bank. Old Vector says each coin is backed by one ruble on deposit at PSB.
The coin launched in January 2025 and exists on both Ethereum and Tron. On the Crypto Nation map, A7A5 stands in Ethereum City (the capital), because the price-data source CoinGecko lists Ethereum as its first chain.
2. A deposit-backed design
A7A5 is a fiat-backed stablecoin: the issuer takes in rubles, holds them at a bank and issues the same number of coins, redeeming them for rubles when they come back. That loop is meant to keep the price near one ruble. On Ethereum and Tron it follows the usual token standards (ERC-20 and TRC-20), so wallets and exchange tools handle it like any other token.
The analytics firm Elliptic says it trades mainly on Grinex, a Kyrgyzstan-based centralized exchange, where it is swapped for dollar stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT. Grinex has been described as a successor to Garantex, a Russian exchange whose USDT holdings the US Secret Service seized in March 2025.
3. Uses and milestones
The main use is letting Russian businesses pay abroad without going through Western bank networks such as SWIFT. Analysts reported very large transaction volumes within a short time of launch, and Western governments saw the coin as a route around sanctions.
The US sanctioned A7A5 and related companies in August 2025, and the UK and the EU also acted that year. From late September 2025 users reported that USDT obtained by swapping A7A5 was frozen or flagged at global exchanges, and in November the decentralized exchange Uniswap removed it from its supported tokens.
4. Things to know
Elliptic reports that use of the coin fell sharply after the sanctions: no new A7A5 has been issued since July 2025, and by June 2026 daily volume was far below its mid-2025 peak. In April 2026 Grinex said it had suffered a hack, and its bank-card top-ups had already been switched off.
Because the coin is entangled with international sanctions, exchanges and payment services in many countries may block it or freeze funds linked to it. Its 1:1 backing rests on the issuer’s own statements, and the bank said to hold the deposits is itself sanctioned. Dealing with sanctioned parties can carry legal consequences, so local law matters.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.