A new digital coin called A7A5, backed by the Russian ruble, was launched in Kyrgyzstan to help Russia send money across borders and avoid international sanctions. In just four months, it has handled $9.3 billion worth of transactions.
However, the total value of all A7A5 coins is only about $156 million. This means the same coins are likely being sent back and forth between a small number of accounts to reach such high trading numbers.
Kyrgyzstan has been trying to grow its local crypto industry. In April, it teamed up with Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao to build its blockchain system. The A7A5 coin was launched shortly after that.
How Garantex Helped Boost A7A5’s Trading Volume
Garantex, one of Russia’s biggest crypto exchanges, was shut down in March by US and EU officials. But soon after, some of its workers started a new platform called Grinex, which took over many of Garantex’s digital assets.
Blockchain records show large movements of A7A5 coins between wallets, clearly linking the new exchange to the old one.
Garantex was one of the first to support Kyrgyzstan’s A7A5 stablecoin, and surprisingly, it continued supporting transactions with the stablecoin for two months after its shutdown.
This proves that these platforms played a big role in A7A5’s trading activity. In fact, the Financial Times reported that this exchange may be responsible for the largest portion of all A7A5 transactions.
Since the total value of A7A5 coins is only about $156 million, the $9.3 billion in trade likely came from the same few accounts sending the tokens back and forth, again and again.