# Crypto Becomes Sanctions Statecraft

Sanctioned states keep building crypto corridors to bypass the dollar system, and authorities controlling exchanges and stablecoin issuance keep tightening the off-ramps, producing a recurring move-and-countermove contest rather than a decisive shift.

- Conviction: 29 / 100 (weakening)
- 7-day move: -3
- Horizon: Emerging (watchlist)
- Tracking since: 2026-06-26T00:00:00.000Z
- Last updated: 2026-07-07T14:00:01.950Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/trends/crypto-sanctions-evasion-statecraft
- Publisher: Polylog
- Affected regions: Russia / Ukraine, Middle East

## Recent score history

- 2026-07-06: 31
- 2026-07-07: 29

## Recent evidence

- [confirms] Sanctioned Russian Stablecoin Claims Billions in Volume That Analysts Dispute (2026-07-04): A7A5, a sanctioned Russian ruble stablecoin, continues operating as a cross-border settlement corridor even as analysts dispute its scale.
- [confirms] Tether Freezes 131 Wallets, Showing Stablecoins as Sanctions Infrastructure (2026-07-03): Tether froze 131 wallets tied to a US sanctions update naming Islamic State Khorasan addresses, neutralizing them on-chain within hours except for holdings in Monero, which evaded the freeze.

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