The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office sanctioned 18 companies and individuals on May 26 for operating the A7 network. The A7 network claims to have moved $90 billion into Russia's economy last year using crypto-based payment channels. Britain applied Regulation 17A of its Russia sanctions regime to crypto exchanges for the first time.
Sanctioned entities include HTX, formerly known as Huobi, which the UK government alleges funnelled over $1.5 billion to the Kremlin. The network routes transactions through financial channels in Kyrgyzstan, converting rubles into stablecoins to circumvent banking restrictions on Russian cross-border payments.
Russia's System for Transfer of Financial Messages handles domestic interbank messaging but lacks the international settlement reach that drove demand for crypto-based alternatives.