EU Considers Imposing Sanctions on Ruble-Backed Stablecoin A7A5: Bloomberg

A7A5 debuted earlier this year as part of A7, a Russia focused cross-border payments system that operates away from the US-centric financial and crypto markets. A7 is owned in part by Russian state bank Promsvyazbank (PSB), and Ilan Shor, a fugitive Moldovan oligarch based in Russia. 

Sanctions

Both PSB and Shor have been sanctioned in the US, UK and EU, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A7 was directly accused of providing “cross-border settlement platforms used for sanctions evasion” in an August press release from the US Treasury announcing sanctions on both A7 and Grinex, a Russian crypto exchange. 

According to Bloomberg’s report, the new sanctions that the EU is considering will target the A7A5 stablecoin directly – barring direct or indirect engagement with the coin by any EU-based entity. 

Cleaning coins

The Financial Times also recently reported that the day after the US announced the sanctions on Grinex, two crypto wallets with $405 million worth of A7A5 had their balances manually set to 0, and subsequently a new wallet was credited with tokens worth the same amount. 

According to the outlet, that new wallet has been involved in over $6 billion worth of transactions since its creation. 

Growth amidst turmoil

Despite the sanctions surrounding it, A7A5 has become one of the largest non-US-dollar backed stablecoins. On CoinMarketCap, its market cap is listed at $500.25 million, however the site notes that this is a self-reported figure. 

“We hold 44% of the global non-dollar stablecoin market,” the A7A5 account wrote this week on its Telegram channel, adding “we have already proven that a national digital currency can be not only an alternative to the dollar but also a driver of global change.”

Elliptic, which analyses blockchain data for financial crime compliance, estimates that the total value of all A7A5 transactions as of 26 September 2025 was $68 billion.