Russian fintech company A7 is now offering businesses and individuals worldwide a way to pay foreign invoices in USDT stablecoin and have the money arrive in the recipient’s bank account.
The service, A7 International, went live on Oct. 13 and pays out in US dollars, euros, Chinese yuan and UAE dirhams, with other currencies available by arrangement, the company said. It charges a flat 0.3% fee, and transfers take from one business day.
The launch turns a network built to keep Russia’s trade moving under Western sanctions into a product for clients abroad.
Crypto In, Bank Wire Out
Customers send USDT over the Tron blockchain, and A7 then arranges a conventional bank transfer, including through SWIFT, to the account named on the invoice. Recipients don’t need a crypto wallet or any contact with the blockchain.
Users must pass identity checks or corporate due diligence before paying. A7 says fees are disclosed upfront and clients receive supporting documents once a transfer is complete. A7 CEO Ilan Shor says it uses artificial intelligence to score transaction risk and to choose payment routes based on cost, speed, reliability and regulatory requirements.
“The system compares compliance requirements with the capabilities of the existing payment infrastructure,” according to Ilan Shor.
China Corridor
A7 says it serves about 15,000 corporate clients and handles about 2,000 transactions a day. It says it processed more than 10 trillion rubles (about $120 billion) of international payments in 2025 and expects that figure to nearly double this year. The company has also claimed to handle as much as 19% of Russia’s foreign-trade settlements.
China is the biggest corridor, accounting for more than 60% of transactions as of mid-2026, according to Ilan Shor. The Middle East and Hong Kong are its other main growth markets.
The company is now pushing into Africa and Latin America. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in December that Nigeria and Zimbabwe had joined the platform.
Kremlin Backing
On Oct. 15, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov became chairman of a new A7 supervisory board, joined by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev, the government said. PSB’s Fradkov and Shor also joined the board.
Officials used the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow on Oct. 28-29 to promote the service. President Vladimir Putin urged African nations to build settlement systems in national currencies, saying reliance on Western finance limits their sovereignty. He described A7 as a sovereign payment system operating in line with international law and said modern technology makes such payments impossible to block, according to Sputnik.
Siluanov told summit guests that A7 International had already begun handling payments with Africa, and pointed to its 0.3% fee as unusually low.
