According to Decrypt, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated the Russian shadow banking network A7 as a major transnational criminal organization and identified related addresses in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.
FinCEN proposes a ban on fund transfers tied to the network
Separately, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, proposed a rule that would prohibit U.S. institutions from participating in any fund transfer involving the network’s “secondary front companies.” The proposed restriction would apply to convertible virtual currency as well as fiat transactions. FinCEN said the measure is expected to affect about 348,000 institutions, including multiple cryptocurrency exchanges.
Why regulators chose the sixth special measure
The proposal is based on the six special measures available under Section 9714 of the Russia Anti-Money Laundering Act. FinCEN chose the sixth measure, a fund transfer prohibition, as its final option.
The agency said the fifth measure, which restricts correspondent accounts, would leave room for evasion. Research from blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs found that A7A5 transactions bypassed the correspondent banking system entirely, a pattern FinCEN said sits at the center of the network’s business model.
A7A5 structure and transaction history
A7A5 is a ruble-backed token issued by Kyrgyzstan-registered Old Vector. It runs on Tron and Ethereum, and its reserves are held at Promsvyazbank, Russia’s state-owned defense bank.
FinCEN said that from February 2025 to June 2026, more than 180 entities handled at least $179.1 billion worth of A7A5. The agency added that, historically, nearly all of the token’s flows moved through sanctioned exchanges Garantex and Grinex, and that it was often used as a non-freezing bridge into USDT before conversion into fiat.