Russia sanctions 17-year-old Alexander Browder over report on A7A5 ruble stablecoin transactions

Russia has imposed personal sanctions on 17-year-old British citizen Alexander Browder after he published a special report on transaction schemes involving the ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5. For high-risk payments people, the useful bit is not the drama around the sanctions list; it is that the token has been described in public research as a tool for moving sanctioned flows.

1. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Browder is banned from entering Russia because of “the dissemination of slanderous speculation and false information about the policy of the Russian leadership and socio-political events in the country.”
2. Browder created the Global Cryptocurrency Laundering Database, which he says contains 164 cryptocurrency transactions totaling more than $350 billion. According to him, most of the activity is linked to sanctions evasion and involves actors from countries under various restrictions, mainly Russia, North Korea, and Iran.
3. The database also includes transactions involving A7A5, a ruble stablecoin registered in Kyrgyzstan. In his report, Browder says he uncovered over the last six months how the stablecoin became one of the main tools for sanctions evasion, and he says he is now working to stop the use of A7A5.
4. In spring, Browder presented his report in the British Parliament, which brought wider media attention to the topic.
5. CertiK security researchers said the cumulative on-chain volume of A7A5 since launch has exceeded $110 billion. They also said that from February last year to May, A7A5 reached 43% of the global non-dollar stablecoin market, while the number of holder wallets more than doubled from 13,000 to 29,000.