US Treasury Crypto Sanctions on Garantex, Grinex & A7A5
US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has expanded crypto sanctions to target Russian-linked exchange Garantex, its successor Grinex, ruble-backed A7A5 stablecoin and affiliated entities and executives. Garantex, founded in 2019, processed over $100 million in darknet and ransomware transactions before authorities in the US, Germany and Finland seized its domain and froze $26 million in March. After Garantex shut down, Grinex emerged, using Old Vector-issued A7A5—backed by Promsvyazbank and Moldovan politician Ilan Shor—to bypass sanctions. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reports A7A5 reached $1 billion in daily volume by July, with Chainalysis citing $51 billion in cumulative transactions. OFAC sanctions now include Old Vector, A7 LLC, A7 Agent, key executives Sergey Mendeleev, Aleksandr Mira Serda and Pavel Karavatsky, InDeFi Bank and Exved, effectively cutting crypto channels used for money laundering and sanctions evasion. Traders should monitor elevated regulatory scrutiny on stablecoins and exchanges, as stricter crypto sanctions may shift trading volumes and liquidity.
Bearish
These crypto sanctions on Garantex, Grinex and A7A5 Stablecoin are bearish for A7A5 itself. In the short term, freezing of assets and sanctions on key issuers and operators will undermine market confidence, likely leading to reduced liquidity and potential depeg pressures. Traders may exit A7A5 positions to avoid regulatory risk, pushing its price below parity. Over the long term, ongoing enforcement and loss of access to US dollar rails will hinder A7A5 adoption, shifting demand toward more compliant stablecoins and further depressing its market standing.