The US Department of Justice announced the closure of the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex. On March 7, the exchange's domains were confiscated and crypto assets worth $26 million were frozen.
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What is known
According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, Garantex was used by members of the Russian elite to circumvent sanctions. It also served as a platform for laundering criminal proceeds, including from trading on darknet markets and thefts linked to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group.
International Operation: Domain and Server Removal
US law enforcement, led by the US Secret Service (USSS), seized three domains used by Garantex to conduct its operations: Garantex.org, Garantex.io, and Garantex.academy. In cooperation with US law enforcement, Germany and Finland confiscated the servers that hosted the exchange's infrastructure.
Data access: deleting customer and accounting databases
The US Department of Justice also said it had previously gained access to copies of Garantex's servers, including customer databases and accounting records.
Charges against exchange administrators
According to US authorities, from 2019 to 2025, Garantex was controlled and managed by two people: Lithuanian citizen Alexey Beschekov, who lives in Russia, and Russian citizen Alexander Mira Serda, who lives in the UAE. The exchange administrators have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Billions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions
The US Department of Justice estimates that at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions have passed through Garantex since April 2019.
Tether Wallet Blocking: Background
The day before, Garantex reported that Tether had blocked all of its wallets with USDT stablecoins. The total amount of blocked funds exceeded 2.5 billion rubles (about 28 million US dollars).
In connection with these events, Garantex announced the suspension of all transactions on its platform.
- Cryptocurrency