Russia has hidden more than $93 billion in cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions, - Zhelezniak. VIDEO
Russia is using stablecoin A7A5 to circumvent sanctions. However, Western regulators have already blacklisted it.
This was reported by MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, according to Censor.NET.
Details
The MP spoke about a $93.6 billion scam involving a stablecoin pegged to the rouble to circumvent sanctions against Russia.
A7A5
According to Zhelezniak, A7A5 is a digital token whose exchange rate is rigidly pegged to the Russian rouble at a ratio of 1:1.
Who is behind this?
Officially, the main shareholder of A7 LLC, which developed the token, is Ilan Shor, a Moldovan oligarch on the run who was convicted of stealing $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system.
It is in the Russian state bank "Promsvyazbank" that the rouble reserves securing A7A5 are held. It is considered to be the FSB's bank.
"Old Vector LLC: The issuing company is registered in Kyrgyzstan. It is a legal 'smokescreen' that allows the token to be formally issued outside the Russian Federation, although all the strings lead to Moscow," the MP noted.
A7A5's headquarters are located in the "Federation" Tower in Moscow City.
How does the scheme work?
The MP noted that A7A5 acts as a "safe bridge":
"1. Exchange: Russian companies bring roubles into the system through the sanctioned Promsvyazbank.
2. Conversion: They buy A7A5, and then instantly exchange it for USDT stablecoin on special exchanges (such as Grinex in Kyrgyzstan).
3. Entry into the world: Once they have USDT, they gain access to the global market, minimising the risk of their wallets being blocked by Western regulators.
The most exotic feature of the project is Digital Promissory Notes. These are physical paper documents with a QR code, watermarks and a scratch layer. They can literally be put in a suitcase, transported across the border like ordinary paper, and then scanned via a Telegram bot to receive cash in another country or convert back to crypto. The redemption of such "papers" for more than $8.6 million has already been recorded," Zhelezniak said.
This, the MP noted, allows the Kremlin not only to trade, but also to secretly finance protests and bribe voters in neighbouring countries, turning crypto into a hybrid weapon.
Evidence
An analysis of the blockchain revealed anomalies that directly indicate that this stablecoin is purely a corporate tool of the Kremlin, Zhelezniak said.
The regular crypto market never sleeps, while A7A5 lives according to the schedule of a typical Russian civil servant:
- Weekends are weekends: The number of transactions on Saturdays and Sundays drops to almost zero.
- Moscow time: Peak activity occurs during standard working hours in Moscow;
- Start of the week: The largest volumes occur on Monday and Tuesday, gradually fading by Friday.
"This proves that the token is not used by private traders, but by company accountants and operators of sanction schemes for intergovernmental settlements.
The "124 Wallets" club worth 9 billion
In just the first few months, more than $9 billion passed through the system.
But the anomaly is the tiny number of players: some large reports show a figure of only 124 active wallets that have turned over these billions," said Zhelezniak.
According to the MP, such a concentration of capital in the hands of a select few confirms that A7A5 is a "closed club" for oligarchs and state structures of the Russian Federation. It is not a mass payment method, but a special digital conduit through which large sums of money are transferred bypassing global control.
Sanctions
Zhelezniak noted that despite the fact that A7A5 managed to remain in a "grey area," Western regulators have finally blacklisted A7A5 and its related infrastructure (in particular, the Grinex exchange and Payeer wallets).
"Liquidity blocking: The largest decentralised platforms, such as Uniswap, have started blocking transactions with this token.
While at its peak the system processed more than $1.5 billion per day, after the restrictions were introduced, volumes fell threefold to $500 million," he added.
Also, according to Zhelezniak, the EU is preparing a new strike to completely isolate Russian crypto infrastructure.
