The U.S. Department of the Treasury has listed Russia’s A7 network as a transnational criminal organization. I looked into its ruble stablecoin’s on-chain transaction volume, and it’s $179 billion. That figure is larger than the annual settlement volume of many legitimate chains. And most of what it processes runs along payment rails outside the U.S. dollar system; before the sanctions, basically no one paid attention.
The new rules are pretty straightforward: they mean cutting A7’s front companies out of the U.S. financial system, and that part of crypto too. I’ve been watching this number for a while. For a named ruble token to circulate at this scale means there’s been a real, ongoing demand to bypass dollar settlement—not something that can be suppressed with just a proposal.
Next, I’ll pay attention to whether its on-chain balances keep rolling forward or start moving out. The direction of any withdrawal will tell more than the sanctions themselves. $BTC
The new rules are pretty straightforward: they mean cutting A7’s front companies out of the U.S. financial system, and that part of crypto too. I’ve been watching this number for a while. For a named ruble token to circulate at this scale means there’s been a real, ongoing demand to bypass dollar settlement—not something that can be suppressed with just a proposal.
Next, I’ll pay attention to whether its on-chain balances keep rolling forward or start moving out. The direction of any withdrawal will tell more than the sanctions themselves. $BTC
