US imposes sanctions on companies and executives affiliated with the ruble stablecoin A7A5 and the Garantex exchange

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on companies and executives associated with the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex and its ruble-backed stablecoin, A7A5, and has shut down the exchange. OFAC accused Garantex, Grinex, the issuer of the A7A5 token, and their executives of laundering ransomware proceeds and evading sanctions. Garantex processed over $100 million in illicit transactions before being shut down, prompting the creation of Grinex to continue operations. The A7A5 token, backed by sanctioned Russian institutions, was used to circumvent international sanctions and process $1 billion in transactions daily.