UK Slams Sanctions on Russia’s Crypto Network to Choke Military Funding

UK regulators just dropped the hammer—targeting Russia's shadowy crypto financing web in a bold move to cripple military cash flows.

Cutting Off Digital Pipelines

No more hiding behind blockchain anonymity. The Treasury’s latest crackdown hits wallets, exchanges, and mixers—anything funneling rubles into drones and bullets. They’re tracing transactions, freezing assets, and naming names. It’s a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, with billions on the line.

Finance’s New Battlefield

Forget SWIFT—crypto’s the new frontier for sanctions evasion. Moscow’s been leaning hard on digital assets to bypass traditional banking locks. But now? The UK’s cyber-sleuths are turning the screws. They’re tracking coin movements, slapping penalties on offshore entities, and even blacklisting mining ops tied to the Kremlin.

Sure, it might slow them down—but since when has money ever cared about borders? Especially when it’s dressed as crypto.

A7A5 stablecoin token

The A7A5 token, issued by the Kyrgyz company Old Vector and backed by deposits at sanctioned Russian lender Promsvyazbank, has processed more than $9.3 billion in transactions within four months.

A recent Chainalysis report revealed that the token circulates within a narrow ecosystem of Russia-linked financial services, and most trades occur on weekdays.

According to the firm, Grinex has been the asset’s primary trading venue and is mainly used by businesses as an internal medium of exchange.

Meanwhile, the token’s early liquidity can be traced directly back to Garantex, creating a clear on-chain connection between the two exchanges.