Russia Plans Its Own Stablecoin: Because Frozen Wallets Are So Last Year

Russia, apparently undeterred by the Tether drama, now wants to create its own version of fiat-backed stablecoins. Because if you’re going to get your digital cash frozen, you might as well keep the keys in your own icy vault.

A high-up finance ministry guy, Osman Kabaloev (try saying that after a vodka or two), casually suggested this gem after Tether pulled the plug on some Russian digital wallets. Not just any wallets—wallets belonging to Garantex, a local crypto exchange that apparently didn’t get the memo about sanctions. Oops.

According to an April 16 Reuters report, Russia’s idea is to bounce back with “internal tools” (read: their own stablecoin) which might even be pegged to currencies other than the dollar. Because why hitch your wagon to Uncle Sam when you can make your own gig?

The whole standoff went down when Tether froze a whopping $28 million in USDT belonging to Garantex, which caused the exchange to briefly put up the cryptic “Gone Fishing” sign. Their official Telegram epic lamented:

“Tether has entered the war against the Russian crypto market and blocked our wallets worth over 2.5 billion rubles… Please note that all USDT held in Russian wallets is now under threat. As always, we are the first, but not the last.” Clearly, these folks like to keep their drama series going.

Adding fuel to this digital fire, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control slapped sanctions on Garantex’s addresses for allegedly mingling funds with the Houthi group—because nothing says “party” like international sanctions and a terrorism tag.

So here we are: while stablecoins are the darling of payment ecosystems worldwide, Russia is apparently upping the ante by saying, “If you can’t join ‘em, freeze ‘em—and then make your own.” Meanwhile, crypto firms in Moscow seem keen on dancing with digital currencies amid all these sanctions, embracing the crypto life like it’s the last vodka shot at a cold party.

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2025-04-16 22:26