A7A5, a new Russian ruble-backed stablecoin, has reportedly emerged as a major transaction tool on Grinex, a crypto exchange widely seen as the successor to Russia’s sanctioned Garantex platform.
Following the stablecoin’s launch in Kyrgyzstan in February, at least $9.3 billion worth of A7A5 (A7A5) has moved through Grinex, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Although Grinex has repeatedly denied links to Garantex, the exchange was allegedly crediting balances by users of the sanctioned Garantex, which was hit with a $27 million USDT freeze by Tether in March.
“Garantex users with outstanding balances at the time it was shut down could have these balances credited to new accounts set up on Grinex,” Elliptic founder Tom Robinson told the FT.
A7A5 overview: 24,000 holders and a $156 million market cap
Since its launch roughly four months ago, A7A5 has amassed around 24,000 holders, according to onchain data from Etherscan and Tronscan.
According to trackable data by CoinGecko, A7A5 has a market capitalization of $151 million with about 12 million issued tokens and is only listed on the decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap.
Apart from Russia’s national currency, A7A5 is also traded against stablecoins like Tether’s USDt (USDT), as well as actual US dollars, according to Grinex’s Telegram channel.
A7A5 claims it is backed 1:1 by ruble deposits held at Promsvyazbank, a Moscow-based institution sanctioned by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union due to its role in Russia’s defense sector.
Only 124 wallets behind $9.3 billion A7A5 transfers
According to the FT, the $9.3 billion A7A5 transactions with Grinex came from only 124 wallets.
“The true value of the transactions represented by these token movements is unclear: A large portion of the flows follow rigid fixed patterns which suggest they may be being used as part of an internal banking process,” the FT said.
Elliptic analysts added that the token is likely being used by a limited number of actors or services at present.
Garantex’s closure an opportunity for Grinex?
While previous reports also suspected Grinex to be the direct successor of the troubled Garantex, Grinex has been denying such allegations.
“Grinex capitalized on market opportunities after the closure of Garantex as part of its growth strategy,” a Grinex representative reportedly said. The platform still “obtained a portion of the non-toxic customer base of the blocked Garantex exchange, committing only to users with a transparent history,” the representative added.
Related: Global Ledger detects $15M of Garantex assets flowing despite Tether’s freeze
The alleged Grinex-Garantex relationship is not the only speculation involving the exchange and A7A5.
According to a report by the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), A7A5 may be connected to Ilan Shor, a Moldovan political figure and businessman who is subject to sanctions and has been convicted of fraud in Moldova.
Although A7A5 said it cut ties with the Shor-related A7 project in May, the Moldovan tycoon appeared on a panel at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, promoting the A7A5 stablecoin.
Cointelegraph reached out to A7A5 and Grinex for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
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