Russia’s Selective Crypto Market entry for Banks
The Bank of Russia is now permitting a few commercial banks to venture into the crypto market. This move is under tight supervision to avoid risks. Officials stress the importance of capital controls and openness to prevent any regulatory gaps.
This decision follows an experimental 2025 crypto regime. It allows wealthy entities to use digital assets for cross-border transactions. The goal is to develop choice financial channels that can operate outside the reach of the U.S. dollar-dominated global system. This surroundings has catalyzed the stunning rise of the A7A5 stablecoin, a ruble-pegged digital asset that has ballooned to a $500 million market cap despite its issuers, including the sanctioned Russian bank PSB, facing international designations. Its explosive growth, making it the world’s largest non-dollar stablecoin, has captured global attention and raised alarms that it is becoming a key tool for sanctioned entities in Russia to facilitate cross-border trade. Despite facing intense regulatory scrutiny, A7A5 executive Oleg Ogienko has publicly defended the Russia-linked stablecoin. In recent comments, he insisted the stablecoin is a legitimate payments tool operating in compliance wiht Kyrgyzstan’s laws and has “nothing to do with money laundering.” He claims its adoption is surging in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, facilitating “billions of dollars” in trade for Russian firms and their partners. rnrn
