Fugitive Moldovan Businessman Shor Builds Crypto Network Processing Over 100 Billion Dollars for Russia Sanctions Evasion

An Economist investigation reported that Ilan Shor, convicted in absentia in Moldova over a $1 billion bank fraud, holds a 51 percent stake in A7, the Russian financial firm behind the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5, with the remaining 49 percent held by sanctioned state bank Promsvyazbank 1. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic found that more than $100 billion in transactions passed through A7A5 in under a year, with large transfers concentrated during Russian business hours, consistent with commercial rather than speculative use 2. Reported use cases include settling payments for Russian gas sales to Turkey and Chinese components purchased by Russian drone manufacturers, and Putin appeared remotely at the opening of an A7 branch in Vladivostok 2. Much of the network's operations run through Kyrgyzstan, and A7 has opened offices in Nigeria and Zimbabwe with plans for further expansion in Africa and South America 23. Following Western sanctions on parts of the A7 ecosystem, transaction volumes reportedly fell by roughly 96 percent 2.