Stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen USDT wallets on the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex worth 2.5 billion rubles ($28 million). In connection with this, the sanctioned platform has suspended all operations. This was reported by the company's press service.
► Read the Minfina Facebook page: main financial news
“Tether has entered the war against the Russian crypto market… We draw your attention to the fact that all USDT in Russian wallets is now under threat,” Garantex stated.
Let us recall
“Minfin” wrote that in February 2025, as part of the 16th package of sanctions, the European Union introduced targeted restrictions against the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex. The latter is closely associated with Russian banks that have already been subjected to punitive measures by the EU
In 2023, Garantex served as a money laundering platform for the North Korean hacker group known as Lazarus.
The perpetrators of the aforementioned organization are accused of a number of frauds, including the recent hack of the crypto service Bybit, which became the largest in the history of the industry.
Later in July 2024, Chainalysis analysts discovered that Garantex was involved in laundering over $30 billion in 2022.
According to a report by experts published in early September 2024, despite sanctions, the crypto service processed a significant volume of transactions for certain entities in Russia and Iran, helping to evade restrictions.
Also, OKX exchange CEO Star Xu announced the potential blocking of user accounts that deposited and withdrew funds through the Tornado Cash mixer on Garantex.
At the end of September 2024, the US authorities expanded the list of sanctions by adding the crypto company Cryptex, whose client was the Garantex platform and used it for fraudulent activities.
🕵️ We created a short survey to learn more about our readers.
💛💙 Your answers will help us become better, pay more attention to the topics that interest you.
🤗 We would be grateful if you could take a minute to answer our questions.