Published
08/29/2025, 16:26The actual issuance volume of the ruble stablecoin A7A5, issued by the Kyrgyz company Old Vector, which came under UK sanctions in August, has become known. While foreign media previously estimated the issuance at 12 billion tokens, as Akchabar has learned, the registered volume is eight times higher than previously reported.
On August 20, the United Kingdom added the Kyrgyz company LLC Old Vector to its sanctions list. The firm is subject to asset freezes and a ban on providing trust services. According to London, the company is involved in projects that provide 'strategic benefits to the Russian government,' primarily in the financial services sector.
At first glance, Old Vector appears to be an ordinary company. According to data from the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic, the company was registered on December 13, 2024, with Süyünbek Karabekov as its founder and director. Its main activity in the charter is wholesale trade of non-specialized goods. However, just two months later, in February, the company obtained the status of a virtual asset issuer and registered the issuance of the ruble stablecoin A7A5.
It was precisely the ruble peg that drew attention to the project. As the Financial Times wrote, the token was conceived as a tool to circumvent sanctions and facilitate cross-border transactions with Russia. According to the publication, Kyrgyzstan was chosen as a friendly jurisdiction.
According to the Financial Times, the issuance of A7A5 is backed by deposits in Moscow’s Promsvyazbank, which is under sanctions by the U.S., the U.K., and the EU for supporting Russia’s defense sector. However, the Service for Regulation and Supervision of the Financial Market of Kyrgyzstan told Akchabar that the token’s backing is controlled by the issuer itself — Old Vector.
"According to the provided data, the management and financial backing of the virtual asset issuance are carried out by the issuer itself, namely LLC Old Vector," — the Financial Market Regulation and Supervision Service stated.
At the same time, a significant discrepancy appeared in foreign media reports. The Financial Times estimated the issuance volume at 12 billion A7A5 tokens (about 156 million USD). However, Akchabar found that on February 19, 2025, the Financial Market Regulation and Supervision Service registered the issuance of 100 billion tokens. With a nominal value of 1 ruble, the total issuance amounted to 100 billion rubles — equivalent to 1.2 billion USD at the Central Bank of Russia’s exchange rate on August 29.
"LLC Old Vector (Kyrgyz Republic, 100%) — on February 19, 2025, the issuance of the stablecoin A7A5 was registered. The total issuance volume amounts to 100 billion rubles, with a nominal value of 1 ruble per token, resulting in a total of 100 billion virtual assets issued," — the Financial Market Regulation and Supervision Service stated in an official response to Akchabar.
The issuance volume became a record not only for a single company but also for the country as a whole. For comparison, the total paid-in capital of the entire banking sector in Kyrgyzstan — 21 banks — amounts to KGS 147.1 billion.
Media outlets link the launch of A7A5 to the Russian company A7, created to organize cross-border transactions circumventing Western restrictions. In May 2025, A7 was sanctioned by the United Kingdom (later, in July, by the EU). In June, the A7A5 team stated that it “collaborated with the A7 technical team at an early stage,” but later “fully separated due to strategic differences.”
Before the UK added Old Vector to its sanctions list on August 20, the token itself was formally not subject to restrictions.
According to the Open Budget portal, in 2025 Old Vector transferred over KGS 363 million in taxes and fees to the Kyrgyz budget, including the unified tax, contributions to the Pension Fund, and income tax payments. For a young company, such amounts indicate active operations.
Foreign media identify the Grinex crypto exchange (LLC Grinex) as the key channel for A7A5 circulation. According to the Ministry of Justice, LLC Grinex was registered in Kyrgyzstan on December 23 of last year (ten days after the registration of Old Vector). The company’s stated activity is financial market management. Its director and sole founder is Duulat-Eldar Subankulov.
The Kyrgyz company is referred to as the successor of the Russian exchange Garantex, which was blocked by sanctions in March 2025. According to media reports, after Garantex’s closure, significant amounts of USDT were converted into A7A5 and transferred to Grinex. The exchange, however, claims its independence and denies any connection with either Garantex or Old Vector.
Despite the turnovers passing through wallets linked to Grinex, FT journalists estimate that 9.3 billion USD in transactions went through the stablecoin in the first four months, while the amount contributed to the budget by Grinex was symbolic — only 1,000 KGS as a state fee when obtaining its license.
There is yet another discrepancy. In foreign publications, Grinex is mentioned as a crypto exchange, but officially the company only has the status of a crypto exchanger. As reported by the Financial Market Regulation and Supervision Service, LLC Grinex is registered in the virtual asset service providers registry and obtained an exchange operator license on April 25.
"We would like to emphasize that LLC Grinex is not an operator of virtual asset trading," — the Financial Market Regulation and Supervision Service stressed.
