Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump told reporters that the end of the war between Ukraine and Russia was “getting very close,” with Kiev and Moscow apparently getting closer to reaching some sort of agreement, coindesk.com writes.
For A7A5 – a ruble-linked stablcoin designed to circumvent sanctions on Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine – any subsequent relaxation of those measures raises a fundamental question: what happens when the conditions that created its market disappear?
According to Oleg Ogienko, chief executive of stablecoin, the business will survive. Like its dollar- and euro-linked counterparts, the ruble-linked token provides a faster and cheaper international settlement system than traditional bank payments, he noted, and, like them, will find wider use as international trade opens up.
“Our stablecoin has a good chance of remaining competitive even after sanctions are lifted,” Ogienko told CoinDesk in Hong Kong. “If you trade with Russia, you need a convenient and fast means of settlement.”
While stablecoins make up only a small fraction of global payments, their popularity is growing and they are likely to become a mainstream layer of global finance, Chainalysis said in a report from April. International B2B transactions involving stablecoins are projected to reach $13.4 billion this year, according to Juniper Research, and could reach $5 trillion by 2035.
One possible use could be to pay for Russian oil. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the war between the U.S. and Iran has spurred demand for oil from the world’s third-largest producer. The country accounts for 11% of global production, behind only the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The shutdown hit Asia hard. South Korea is considering resuming oil imports from Russia – with which it suspended operations after the outbreak of war in Ukraine – and many Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia see Russian Federation as a lifeline.
From temporary solution to infrastructure
Ogieńko’s main point is that the A7A5 is evolving from a temporary sanctions era workaround solution to a long-term commercial infrastructure.
“The idea is that we can create an exchange channel between your stablecoin and ours,” he said. “Without using USDT, USDC, US dollars. We just do direct swaps.”
Tether’s USDT is the largest steiblcoin in the world with a market capitalization of about $190 billion. Circle Internet’s USDC (CRCL) ranks second with a market capitalization of $77 billion. A7A5 has a market capitalization of about $500 ln, according to CoinGecko data.
Incidentally, any stablecoin not pegged to the dollar will be welcome in Hong Kong. After all, Hong Kong, itself has been subjected to US sanctions.
While the territory’s authorities say financial institutions are not obliged to apply sanctions against Russia because they have not been adopted by the United Nations (the only sanctions Hong Kong has applied), its newly licensed stablecoin system is operated by HSBC and a venture led by Standard Chartered.
Both organizations are institutions closely tied to Western financial infrastructure and sanctions compliance, caught between West and East, making it difficult to directly cooperate with Russia’s sanctions-related stablecoin.
Cooperation with Moscow
Lawmakers in the Russian State Duma are pushing the idea of creating a formal legal framework for digital assets in cross-border settlements, while the Bank of Russia is exploring the feasibility of issuing a national stablecoin.
Ogienko said A7A5 is involved in consultations on the framework, but he warns that the current project risks creating a legal market that would be too restrictive for commercial viability.
“We are involved in that consultation. We are engaging with regulators and market participants,” he said.
However, the law, as currently drafted, needs to be finalized.
One problem is that cryptocurrencies, which Ogienko described as a major source of profit for exchanges, are not addressed, potentially leaving newly licensed platforms with a weak business model in their early years.
Restrictions on retail investors are another concern, with current proposals limiting unqualified investors to 300,000 rubles ($4,000) per year.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have been presented as the future of cross-border trade, but a future Russian digital ruble would not necessarily pose a threat to business,” he said.
“It’s not a competitor for us at all,” Ogienko said, describing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as a slow government infrastructure aimed more at budget control than trade.
A7A5 may also attract attention for reasons beyond payments. Ogiejenko noted that the token currently generates about 13.5% of revenue, reflecting rising interest rates in Russia.
“Of course, we have attracted some people because of the yield,” he said, adding that cross-border trading remains the token’s primary use case.
Life under sanctions
For now, sanctions continue to shape the practical realities of doing business, limiting the token’s ability to attract investment.
Ogienko described a cryptocurrency conference circuit open to A7A5 as a sponsor (the company sponsored the Token2049 conference in Singapore), but there was a narrow opportunity to showcase the token’s logo.
A recent blockchain conference in France, for example, gave A7A5 the opportunity to sponsor a dinner but did not allow it to post its branding or participate as a speaker.
“You can pay us, but you can’t post your logo,” he recalled.
When asked how employees of a heavily sanctioned company pay for international travel, Ogienko’s response was more a display of old-fashioned pragmatism than blockchain futurism.
“Cash,” he said, “is king.
A7A5 is a stablecoin pegged to the Russian ruble (at a ratio of \(1:1\)), launched for cross-border payments and circumventing international sanctions. Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor was involved in its creation in 2024-2025, which made the project the object of sanctions pressure from the European Union.
