Stanislav Lazarev, deputy director of sales at A7, believes the cross-border payments ecosystem will move towards independent solutions involving digital assets as participants seek to complete payments while avoiding secondary sanctions by Western countries.
Important points:
- A7 says 85% of its transactions will use friendly currencies to avoid sanctions and it will pursue an independent path within two years.
- A7 works with 10,000 partners to process 20% of Russian payments and develop alternative digital assets.
- Despite the challenges, the A7A5 token moved $100 billion to sanctioned groups and facilitated digital cross-border transactions.
A7: Transnational settlement ecosystems will change due to Western pressures.
The sheer number of sanctions Russia faces from both the US and the EU has led to changes in payment rails and structures, helping Russian companies navigate newfound complexities in the limited cross-border payments ecosystem.
Stanislav Lazarev, First Deputy Director of Sales at A7, emphasized that he is confident that this new situation in the standard fiat payment system will force changes to implement an independent solution in the next two years.
“The structure of payments has changed dramatically. The share of the ruble in foreign trade transactions of importers exceeds 53%, and together with the currencies of friendly countries it now accounts for 85%.” he told Izvestia.
Lazarev expects this new structure to move away from the default system to alternative systems, including more modern solutions such as bills of exchange and digital assets.
“If we look ahead a year or two, we will see a complete transition to alternative, independent payment solutions. Western compliance pressures and the risk of secondary sanctions will not go away.” Furthermore, he emphasized that digital solutions, including stablecoins, will develop.
“Our A7A5 is currently the only ruble-denominated stablecoin that has received digital financial asset status for cross-border payments.” Lazarev declared.
Founded in 2024, A7 has more than 10,000 trading partners that rely on its services to speed up payments and, according to estimates, brokers nearly a fifth of Russia’s international payments market.
The A7A5 token is a Russian ruble stablecoin issued by Old Vector on behalf of A7 that facilitated the movement of nearly $100 billion in funds from sanctioned entities. Nevertheless, it has been subject to sanctions by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the EU, and the UK, and centralized exchanges where trading is possible have been targeted and sometimes directly attacked.
