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A7A5 creator Ilan Shor (Photo: Ilan Shor / Facebook)
The U.S. Treasury Department added the A7
payment system to its sanctions list and designated it as a transnational
criminal organization, the department announced on
Oct. 1.
Russia used A7 to process payments through international banks in 2024 and 2025, the department said. As of January 2026, A7 claimed to process more than 2,000 transactions a day. Its total transaction volume exceeded RUB7.5 trillion ($91.5 billion), equivalent to about 13% of Russia’s foreign trade transactions in 2025.
According to the Treasury Department, A7 used shell companies, forged trade documents, and false descriptions of goods to conceal payments made in violation of sanctions.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions were aimed at isolating Iran and its financial partners.
“Treasury is dismantling the financial infrastructure that allows Iran and other adversaries to evade sanctions, move illicit funds, and undermine the integrity of the global financial system,” Bessent said.
The restrictions apply to all property and interests in property belonging to the A7 network that are in the United States or under the control of U.S. persons. They also cover transactions involving subagents acting on behalf of the network. The assets are blocked, and the Treasury Department must be provided with information about them.
In 2025, the Financial Times reported on the A7A5 cryptocurrency token, which Russia used to circumvent sanctions. The token was created by fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor and was described as the first stablecoin pegged to the Russian ruble.
A7A5 was launched in Kyrgyzstan in February 2025.
Transactions were conducted through Grinex, a cryptocurrency exchange that was
also recently established in the country. An analysis of wallets linked to the
exchange showed that about $9.3 billion was transferred through A7A5 over four
months. The token was backed by ruble deposits at Promsvyazbank, which serves
Russia’s defense sector and is under sanctions imposed by the United States,
the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
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