Photo: Depositphotos

The organizers of the Russian crypto-payment system, including fugitive from Moldova Ilan Shor, have learned to quickly circumvent new US sanctions and resume cross-border operations. Since August, they have conducted transactions worth at least $6 billion. About writes Financial Times.

It is the so-called A7A5 stablecoin pegged to the ruble, which is part of the A7 cross-border payment system, an alternative to the US financial infrastructure from which Russian banks were disconnected after the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine.

Disable ads
Disable ads

In August, the United States imposed sanctions against the Grinex crypto exchange in Kyrgyzstan, the alleged successor to the Moscow-based Garantex exchange liquidated by the US authorities, which is accused of money laundering, hacking, and terrorist financing.

After the sanctions were imposed, more than 80% of A7A5 tokens worth $405 million were destroyed.

According to the newspaper, within a few days they were restored to a new crypto wallet, which allowed the assets to be "cleared" of any connection to the sanctioned exchange. Since August, $6.1 billion worth of transactions have been conducted through this wallet.

The new structure is similar to the previous ones: transactions take place during business hours (Moscow time), and users are offered to buy tokens for cash at Grinex's Moscow office in Federation Tower, where Garantex used to operate.

Disable ads

A7A5 is registered in Kyrgyzstan, which Moscow considers a "friendly jurisdiction." Its issuer is Old Vector, a company also sanctioned in the United States.

In Russia, the token has been granted the status of a digital financial asset, which allows it to be officially used for international payments through a platform controlled by Promsvyazbank, a state-owned bank that finances the Russian military-industrial complex.

Promsvyazbank owns 49% of the A7 network, and the rest belongs to oligarch Ilan Shor, who is wanted in Moldova for large-scale financial fraud.

According to Shor, over $86 billion has passed through the A7 system in the last ten months, and the network is rapidly expanding thanks to loans from Russian state-owned banks.