A7A5 becomes fastest-growing stablecoin despite EU sanctions

On-chain data has revealed that stablecoin A7A5, which is pegged to the Russian ruble, has become the fastest-growing stablecoin in the market over the past 12 months. The A7A5 stablecoin has surged despite the European Union imposing a ban on transactions with the ruble-backed asset.

The ruble-linked stablecoin added approximately $90 billion to its circulating supply last year, despite sanctions imposed by Western governments. A7 LLC launched the token in January last year. 

A7A5 surpasses USDT and USDC 

A7A5 was issued via a Kyrgyz entity and operates on the Tron and Ethereum blockchains. Russian users under banking restrictions leverage the stablecoin for cross-border payments. The digital asset also provides a pathway for Russian users to access USDT through decentralized finance protocols without holding U.S.-backed assets directly. 

On-chain data revealed that A7A5 surpassed market leaders USDT and USDC last year, with $89.5 billion in circulation. Tether’s stablecoin added only $49 billion, while Circle Internet’s stablecoin added about $31 billion.

In September 2024, Russia introduced legislation that legalized the use of digital assets for international payments. The legislation was issued in response to mounting financial pressures of Western sanctions. 

President Vladimir Putin signed the bill into law in August of the same year. He argued that regulating digital assets in Russia for global payments was aimed at reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar.

Russia’s efforts to evade Western sanctions came to fruition in February after the launch of its ruble-dominated A7A5 token. Chainalysis analytics reported on Thursday that the stablecoin has transacted over $93.3 billion in less than one year.

Cryptopolitan reported on Thursday that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is incorporating the digital ruble in the banking sector. Russia also plans to include the digital rubble in its budget system by September.

The CRB had previously enacted a law that required financial institutions with a universal license and retail firms with annual revenue over 30 million rubles to allow crypto transactions by September 2027. Smaller entities with annual revenues below that level can process digital transactions a year later.

At the time of publication, A7A5 is trading at $0.01226, down 0.6% in the past 24 hours. The asset has also declined by more than 2.2% in the last 7 days.

Ruble becomes the world’s best-performing currency

Despite sanctions and mounting geopolitical tensions, the rubble saw outstanding growth against the dollar last year, up about 40% by June amid heightened U.S levies. Bank of America reported that Russia’s currency has become the world’s best-performing currency, driven by central bank interventions.

Andrei Melaschenko, an economist at Renaissance Capital, argued that weak consumption led to a decline in foreign currency demand from local entities. He also believes that the drop led to the ruble’s growth since financial institutions didn’t require selling rubles in exchange for the dollar or yuan.

The economist revealed that the heightened U.S. tariffs led to overstocking in consumer electronics, cars, and trucks in the first quarter of 2025. He acknowledged that those goods were later imported in Q2 of last year in anticipation of an increase in import tariffs.

Melaschenko believes the ruble’s demand increased at the time, as Russian exporters needed to convert dollar payments into local currency. He added that Russian importers minimized the purchase of international goods, which reduced the overall need to sell rubles to pay in dollars.

The analyst also revealed that the oil industry has been a major importer in the country, which has converted foreign earnings back into rubles. Data from CRB showed that sales of foreign currencies by large Russian exporters in the first four months of 2025 exceeded $42.5 billion. The surge represents a 6% increase from the last four months of the previous year.

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