Historically, there has been little international demand for the Russian ruble. But a stablecoin pegged to the country’s currency is having a moment and is becoming a prominent feature at conferences outside the Western sphere of influence.
Although Russia is one of the world’s largest energy exporters, accounting for more than 10% of global oil supply, most of that trade is settled in dollars, euros or, increasingly, China’s renminbi. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) does not list any ruble currency pairs among major currency exchanges, a reflection of how marginal the currency has become in global markets.
However, in 2025, a ruble-backed stablecoin called A7A5 emerged as one of the most geopolitically charged crypto projects of the year, a tool created not for global investors but for a sanctions-constrained economy seeking new financial channels.
The strength of the ruble this year has been one of the most contradictory market stories. Despite sanctions, weak growth and falling oil prices, the currency has risen more than 40% against the dollar – making it the world’s best-performing currency – driven almost exclusively by political engineering rather than fundamentals.
Russia’s central bank kept interest rates above 20%, imposed strict capital controls and forced exporters to repatriate and convert foreign profits, all of which boosted demand for rubles. At the same time, a collapse in imports reduced the need for foreign currency. The result is a tightly managed rally that looks powerful on paper but remains fragile at heart.
That engineered rally also explains why a ruble-pegged stablecoin suddenly becomes logical within Russia’s distorted financial system.
With domestic currency markets shrinking, offshore settlement channels strained and exporters forced to recycle foreign profits back into rubles, a blockchain-based ruble offers a parallel lane that can move value where banks can no longer reliably do so. A7A5 fits perfectly into that gap: it reflects a currency backed at home while providing a cross-border instrument that avoids the friction, visibility and sanctions risk of traditional banking.
When A7A5 sponsored Token2049 in Singapore, its presence exposed how porous global sanctions regimes can be. The sponsorship was technically legal because Singapore’s restrictions only bind authorized financial institutions, and Token2049 is organized by a Hong Kong entity (China has no sanctions against Russia).
Still, the optics caused alarm. Several companies told CoinDesk that the situation was a compliance nightmare, and A7A5’s branding was quietly removed from the conference website, even as it continued to promote its paper online.
But geopolitical unrest has not stopped the project’s ambitions. Oleg Ogienko, the public face of A7A5, spoke at India Blockchain Week earlier this month.
India is a geopolitically non-aligned country and one of the largest buyers of Russian oil, making its presence unsurprising and symbolically appropriate for a stablecoin built to operate in the gray zones of global finance.
