The European Union is proposing new sanctions to choke off a ruble-backed stablecoin that’s fueling sanctions evasion.
The bloc aims to ban all EU entities from trading the A7A5 token, which has processed $68 billion in transactions since launch, reports Bloomberg.
Owned by Moldovan fugitive banker Ilan Shor and Russia’s state lender Promsvyazbank, the stablecoin boasts 41.6 billion tokens in circulation worth $496 million as of September 26th.
The coin was created by the payments firm A7, which was hit with US penalties earlier this year.
EU leaders say the coin directly helps Russian firms dodge Western restrictions via crypto swaps through exchanges like the blacklisted Garantex, and the move is designed to escalate pressure on Moscow’s digital workarounds amid the ongoing war with Ukraine.
The EU’s measures will need unanimous EU approval and would also target banks in Russia, Belarus and Central Asia for enabling the crypto stablecoin’s flows.
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