A7A5, a ruble-backed stablecoin, is gaining ground in the non-dollar segment of the stablecoin market. In a survey of 1,000 participants, 53.7% named A7A5 the most important alternative to dollar-pegged tokens such as USDT and USDC. The research says A7A5 could hold about 41% of the non-dollar stablecoin market by 2026, while its market capitalization has already reached $550 million. EURC, the euro-backed rival, was listed next with an estimated market share of around 32%.
Issuer structure and transaction flows draw attention
A7A5 is issued by the Kyrgyzstan-based Old Vector platform, and its ruble reserves are held at Russia’s PSB Bank. Russian payments company A7 supplies part of the underlying infrastructure for the stablecoin. According to the source material, the company’s majority shareholder is Moldovan and Russian businessman Ilan Shor. Since early 2025, A7A5’s reported transaction volume has exceeded $100 billion. At the same time, entities linked to the stablecoin have faced regulatory scrutiny tied to Western sanctions. Exchanges in Kyrgyzstan, including Grinex, have at times been affected by those measures.
Russian users report broad crypto use across payments and savings
The same survey points to heavy crypto usage among Russian users. 57.4% said they use cryptocurrencies in commercial transactions, while 96.3% described crypto as a store of value. On custody preferences, 56% said they keep assets in decentralized wallets, and 38.6% use services offered by centralized exchanges.
Many respondents said they have held crypto for more than three years. Use cases were spread across several categories: 26.5% use crypto for trading, 25.5% for investment, 19.9% for savings, and 17.3% for international payments. Portfolio exposure was also notable. The survey said 56.7% of participants allocate more than 30% of their total assets to cryptocurrencies, while 22.7% place between 75% and all of their portfolios in digital assets.
Moscow leads activity as Bitcoin tops investment preferences
The average age of respondents was 36.3. Most were university graduates and reported average or above-average income levels. Regionally, the Moscow area accounted for the largest share of crypto activity at 37.9%, followed by St. Petersburg at 10.7%. The rest of the sample was distributed across other Russian regions and neighboring countries.
Although the study centered on Russia, it also included responses from users in Belarus, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Turkey. Those respondents made up just over 9% of the sample. On investment preferences, Bitcoin was seen as the most profitable crypto asset by 25.6% of participants, followed by altcoins at 21.1% and Tether at 16.4%.