The operators of the sanctioned cryptocurrency exchange Garantex are reportedly behind a new platform, Grinex, according to an investigation by analytics firm Global Ledger. The report suggests that Grinex is a direct continuation of Garantex, which collapsed after facing sanctions.
Global Ledger claims to have gathered conclusive evidence linking Grinex to Garantex, pointing to the same operational infrastructure being used by both exchanges. The new platform is said to be operating out of Russia, continuing the financial activities of its predecessor despite previous shutdowns.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice, along with authorities in Germany and Finland, froze several domains associated with Garantex, which allegedly processed over $96 billion in criminal proceeds since its launch in 2019. Tether also froze $23 million in funds tied to the platform.
Garantex was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in April 2022 for facilitating money laundering connected to ransomware attacks and darknet markets. At the time, it was the third-largest crypto exchange sanctioned by the Treasury. Despite the sanctions, analytics firm Elliptic noted that Garantex transacted $60 billion after the designation.
U.S. authorities also indicted the exchange’s key operators, Aleksej Besciokov and Aleksandr Mira Serda. Besciokov was apprehended in India and faces extradition to the U.S., while Serda remains at large.
The move was part of a broader clampdown on entities believed to be assisting Russian nationals in evading international sanctions through the use of cryptocurrencies. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced penalties against 13 organizations and two individuals for such activities.
According to an indictment from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Bešciokov and others allegedly used Garantex to launder proceeds from cybercrimes, including ransomware, hacking, drug sales, and sanctions violations, from 2019 onward.
Global Ledger’s report reveals that Garantex moved liquidity and customer deposits to Grinex, which is now using a ruble-backed stablecoin, A7A5, launched by Promsvyazbank. Onchain data shows that between February 8 and March 1, Garantex transferred billions of A7A5 stablecoins to addresses linked to Grinex, with nearly $30 million in transactions processed on the platform so far.
