A7A5 stablecoin faces data dispute over $34.4B in claimed volume

A sanctioned Russian ruble-pegged stablecoin claims it processed $34.4 billion in the first half of 2026, but blockchain analytics firms say real usage is a fraction of that.

A7A5, a ruble-pegged stablecoin backed by deposits at Promsvyazbank, a Russian bank hit by Western sanctions, says it averaged $205 million in daily trading volume between Jan. 1 and June 17, with most activity occurring on decentralized finance platforms where users can trade directly between wallets without identification.

"We truly don't think there is large-scale, authentic usage of A7A5 outside of A7," Chris Keegan, an analyst at TRM Labs, said in an email, referring to the token's issuer. He added that transaction volumes routinely collapse on weekends because much of the activity appears tied to business-to-business transfers involving the Russia-linked exchange Grinex.

TRM Labs estimates actual daily volume at about $75 million, with roughly 34% of observed transactions appearing to be circular fund movements that artificially inflate activity, Keegan said. Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson said monthly transaction volumes have fallen more than 90% since January and are down 96% from their peak last year, following sanctions imposed by the US, the European Union and the UK, as well as the collapse of Grinex earlier this year.

"The cherry-picked trading and transaction figures provided by A7A5 are consistent with Elliptic's analysis," Robinson said. "However, they conceal the obvious trend: that A7A5 is failing in its goal of enabling Russian sanctions evasion."

The dispute highlights a growing challenge for regulators and analysts tracking sanctions-evasion efforts in crypto. A7A5, rolled out in Kyrgyzstan in early 2025, was developed specifically to facilitate cross-border payments outside Western financial channels. The US, EU and UK sanctioned the token last year.

The data methodology divide

A7A5's director for regulatory affairs, Oleg Ogienko, denied the analytics firms' claims and said the token's activity is not fully captured by major crypto data sites because it takes place mostly in DeFi. He said data providers including CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko and DeFiLlama rely too heavily on centralized exchange data, creating what he called "a generally discriminatory approach, contrary to the principles of the United Nations."

Neither A7A5's nor the blockchain analytics firms' claims were independently verified by CoinDesk.

Kaitlin Martin, a sanctions and national security specialist, said A7A5 remains largely confined to a Russia-linked ecosystem because Western sanctions have prevented most global trading venues from listing the token. Users can still swap A7A5 into other cryptocurrencies through Russia-linked services, allowing funds to enter the broader crypto ecosystem for cross-border payments, including commodities trade, she said.

The dispute comes as Russia recently sanctioned British teenager Alexander Browder for his role in exposing the alleged use of A7A5 in funding the war effort against Ukraine. The 17-year-old authored a report for The Henry Jackson Society, which the Russian Foreign Ministry described as spreading "defamatory speculations and false information."

For regulators, the A7A5 case illustrates the difficulty of measuring crypto activity that falls outside centralized exchanges, particularly when the token in question is designed to help users avoid global sanctions and trade on DeFi platforms. As DeFi activity grows, the gap between what issuers claim and what analytics firms can verify is likely to widen.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.