Ruble stablecoin A7A5 trading volume plummets 96%, core exchange channels hit by dual blows of sanctions and "hacking"

July 29th, according to Elliptic, the ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5 has seen cumulative transactions exceeding $10.2 billion since its launch in early 2025. However, under sanctions from the US, UK, and EU, as well as tightening domestic Russian regulations, its average daily trading volume has fallen by approximately 96% from its peak in July 2025, and new issuances have ceased since July 2025. A7A5 was launched by Russian cross-border payment company A7 LLC, with key shareholders including sanctioned businessman Ilan Shor and Russian state-owned bank Promsvyazbank. The token itself is issued by Kyrgyz company Old Vector LLC. Sanctions have led to USDT with "traces" of A7A5 being frequently frozen on compliant exchanges, and the Uniswap front-end has also listed it as an unsupported token. After the Russian central bank tightened channels for purchasing currency with bank cards, the main trading platform Grinex claimed to have been "hacked" in April 2026, with a large amount of funds stolen, effectively causing A7A5's cross-border settlement function to be largely lost.