Garantex | Crypto

The Office of Foreign Assets Control said it was taking additional action against the crypto exchange after including it on its list of Specially Designated Nationals in 2022. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has redesignated cryptocurrency exchange Garantex Europe to its list of sanctioned entities. In a Thursday notice, OFAC said it had redesignated Garantex as well as sanctioned its “successor,” Grinex, three Garantex executives and six Russia- and Kyrgyz Republic-based companies for allegedly facilitating illicit transactions. According to the government agency, the Garantex exchange processed more than $100 million tied to illicit activities since 2019. “Digital assets play a crucial role in global innovation and economic development, and the United States will not tolerate abuse of this industry to support cybercrime and sanctions evasion,” said John Hurley, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. Read more

With a $151 million market cap, A7A5 has reportedly been involved in $9.3 billion of transactions with Grinex, the supposed successor to the sanctioned Garantex exchange. A7A5, a new Russian ruble-backed stablecoin, has reportedly emerged as a major transaction tool on Grinex, a crypto exchange widely seen as the successor to Russia’s sanctioned Garantex platform. Following the stablecoin’s launch in Kyrgyzstan in February, at least $9.3 billion worth of A7A5 (A7A5) has moved through Grinex, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Although Grinex has repeatedly denied links to Garantex, the exchange was allegedly crediting balances by users of the sanctioned Garantex, which was hit with a $27 million USDT freeze by Tether in March. Read more

The situation involving Garantex “undermines the illusion of control that many still cling to,” according to Global Ledger co-founder and CEO Lex Fisun. Global Ledger, a company that provides a crypto Anti-Money Laundering (AML) toolset, has identified over $15 million in active reserves from crypto exchange Garantex, some of which are on the move. According to Global Ledger’s report, a dormant Garantex Ethereum wallet began accumulating Ether (ETH) on March 6, eventually funneling $2.3 million in ETH to Tornado Cash. That wallet still holds $6.1 million in ETH, which remains stagnant. The same pattern was found for Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, the report says. About 2.2 BTC has been bridged to the TRON network, then partially transferred to Grinex. Read more

Exposure to wallets tied to suspected Garantex successor Grinex keeps rising as blockchain analyst warnings are ignored. Grinex, a cryptocurrency exchange identified as the suspected successor to the sanctioned Russian platform Garantex, has reportedly moved more than $1.66 billion in crypto through exchanges, despite red flags raised by blockchain analytics firm Global Ledger. Garantex had its infrastructure taken down by US, German and Finnish authorities in March and has since reportedly shifted its operations to Grinex. Global Ledger initially told Cointelegraph that various cryptocurrency exchanges had around $1 billion in fund exposure to Grinex, as of early May. Read more