// PROJECT
Economic statecraft
Investigating how states weaponise trade, investment, and financial infrastructure to advance strategic objectives.
// INTELLIGENCE
Is Russia's Sanctioned Stablecoin Actually Working?
A7A5's promoters call it a $34 billion success the West can't stop. Blockchain analysts have taken that number apart. But A7A5's more telling feature may be the interest it pays, and what that says about sanctions effectiveness.
A7A5: Russia's Sanctioned Stablecoin Says It Moved $34 Billion. Much of It Went in a Circle.
We traced the crypto wallets. $31 million left one account and came back 13 minutes later. The payments business has collapsed, and the real draw appears to be the nearly 14 percent interest A7A5 quietly pays.
A Kremlin-Backed Payments Network Shared a Dubai Address With Iran’s Arms Network
How Moscow's digital payments platform A7, Russia's shadow fleet brokers, and an Iranian oil-smuggling network became Dubai neighbors, and what it means as Washington extends its waiver to June 17.