Sanctioned Russian Stablecoin’s Transaction Claims Under Scrutiny by Blockchain Analysts

“We truly don’t think there is large-scale, authentic usage of A7A5 outside of A7,” Keegan said in an email, referring to the token’s issuer. He added that transaction volumes routinely collapse on weekends because much of the activity appears tied to business-to-business transfers involving the Russia-linked exchange Grinex.

Meanwhile, Tom Robinson, co-founder of another blockchain analytics firm, Elliptic, also said the token has lost momentum. He stated that monthly transaction volumes have fallen by more than 90% since January and are down 96% from their peak last year, following sanctions imposed by the U.S., the European Union and the United Kingdom, as well as the collapse of Grinex earlier this year.

“The selectively presented trading and transaction figures provided by A7A5 align with Elliptic’s analysis,” Robinson said. “However, they obscure the clear trend: A7A5 is failing in its objective of facilitating sanctions evasion.”

A7A5’s Ogienko countered these assertions, arguing that the token’s activity primarily occurs within decentralized finance (DeFi) networks, which are not fully captured by major crypto data platforms. “The outdated methodologies and metrics used by data providers do not offer users globally objective insights into A7A5,” he told CoinDesk in a statement via Telegram.

Ogienko further criticized data aggregators like CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko, and DeFiLlama for overreliance on centralized exchange data, which he claims results in a “generally discriminatory approach” contradicted by United Nations principles.

Source link