Moldovan fugitive banker Shor created a token to bypass Russian sanctions: processed $9.3 billion – FT
A cryptocurrency token launched by a fugitive Moldovan oligarch to circumvent Western sanctions against Russia has already raised at least $9.3 billion on a dedicated crypto exchange in the four months since its launch, the Financial Times reports.
The A7A5 stablecoin, pegged to the Russian ruble, was launched in Kyrgyzstan in February. The token is designed to facilitate large-scale cross-border payments to and from Russia, despite Western restrictions.
The token is backed by deposits at Russia's Promsvyazbank, which serves the defense industry and is under sanctions from the US, EU, and UK.
The company A7, which developed the stablecoin, is controlled by fugitive Moldovan banker Ilan Shor.
In 2019, he fled Moldova to Israel to avoid punishment for fraud worth $1 billion.
Last year, Shor said he had received a Russian passport and, according to Moldovan police, has been in Russia since early 2024.
He is also on the US and European Union sanctions lists for destabilizing the political landscape of Moldova. In 2022, Shor was sanctioned by the UK for his alleged involvement in the bribery of foreign public officials.
A7 has already been hit by British sanctions, and a new report by the British-based Center for Information Resilience (CIR) links the company's activities to the Kremlin's political influence campaigns abroad.
The main trading of the token takes place on the Grinex exchange, created at the same time as A7A5 in Kyrgyzstan. According to the FT, the volume of transactions through the wallets of this platform amounted to $9.3 billion.
At the same time, a significant part of transfers takes place only on working days and mostly during Moscow working hours.
Russian users buy A7A5 on the Tron or Ethereum blockchains, then exchange it for USDT (a dollar-backed stablecoin), and can then withdraw these funds in any country.
FT journalists have established that Grinex is likely the successor to the Russian crypto exchange Garantex, which was blocked by the US in March. At that time, the American company Tether froze $23 million.
According to the Swiss company Global Ledger, some of the money from Garantex was quickly transferred to A7A5, and then to Grinex.
At the same time, Grinex responded by stating that it is an independent platform that is not related to Garantex and works exclusively with "clean clients with a transparent history."
- In November 2024, Moldova summoned the Russian ambassador over election interference and drone downings.
- In December, Moldova accused Roman Abramovich of supporting election interference through Ilan Shor and the Victory bloc.
- In January 2025, it became known that Ilan Shor, who was convicted in absentia, was organizing international payments for Russian companies to circumvent sanctions.
