Despite facing sanctions and a freeze on its assets by Tether, the crypto exchange Garantex appears to still have significant reserves in motion. Global Ledger, a crypto Anti-Money Laundering (AML) toolset provider, has detected over $15 million in Garantex assets flowing through the blockchain, raising concerns about the effectiveness of current sanction enforcement.
On March 6, 2025, Tether froze $27 million USDt on Garantex, which led the exchange to halt operations, claiming that Tether was waging war against the Russian crypto market. Garantex was previously sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in April 2022 for disregarding AML requirements. The European Union followed suit with sanctions on Feb. 24, 2025.
According to Global Ledger's recent report, a dormant Garantex Ethereum wallet began accumulating Ether on March 6. It eventually funneled $2.3 million in ETH to Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer designed to obscure transactions. As of now, that wallet still holds $6.1 million in ETH. Global Ledger also found a similar pattern with Bitcoin holdings, noting that approximately 2.2 BTC was bridged to the TRON network and then partially transferred to Grinex.
Global Ledger co-founder and CEO Lex Fisun stated that the Garantex case "undermines the illusion of control that many still cling to," emphasizing that "$15 million moving freely through obscure chains and mixers isn't a failure of law — it's a failure of sanction enforcement."
The movement of assets occurs even after international law enforcement seized Garantex's infrastructure in early March 2025. The Moscow-based exchange had allegedly processed around $96 billion in crypto transactions since April 2019, with a significant portion tied to criminal activities. Following the crackdown, there were reports that Garantex had resurfaced as Grinex, shifting liquidity and customer deposits to the new platform. Global Ledger has confidently stated that Grinex and Garantex are directly connected onchain and offchain.
The resilience of Garantex and its ability to continue operations, even under a new name, highlights the challenges faced by regulators in the crypto space. The use of mixers and bridging services enables the movement of funds across different blockchains, complicating efforts to track and control illicit financial flows.
This situation has also spurred reactions from Russian officials. Osman Kabaloev, a Russian finance ministry official, suggested that the country should develop its own stablecoin. This statement came after Tether's freeze on USDt in wallets linked to Garantex. Kabaloev noted that stablecoins could pose risks and that Russia does not impose restrictions on their use within the experimental legal regime. The Russian finance ministry and central bank are reportedly planning to launch a cryptocurrency exchange for "super-qualified" investors.
The ongoing saga of Garantex underscores the need for more robust and coordinated international efforts to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges and prevent the flow of illicit funds. The ability of sanctioned exchanges to adapt and continue operations demonstrates the limitations of current enforcement mechanisms.
