US Imposes Sanctions on Grinex Crypto Exchange, Successor to Garantex

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on Grinex, the successor to the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, which had previously been sanctioned for facilitating money laundering for ransomware gangs. A report by TRM Labs, released in April, indicated that Grinex has significant connections to Garantex’s former operations, although it did not provide conclusive evidence of its involvement in illicit transactions. Grinex was promoted on Telegram channels associated with Garantex shortly after U.S. authorities seized Garantex’s domains in early March 2025, following the processing of $100 million in illicit transactions. Two Garantex administrators, Aleksandr Mira Serda and Aleksej Besciokov, faced charges, with Besciokov being arrested while on holiday in India.

Garantex had been sanctioned by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in April 2022 due to its links with darknet markets and cybercrime groups, including the notorious Hydra dark web market and various ransomware gangs. Following law enforcement actions on March 6, 2025, Garantex officials established infrastructure to continue operations by transferring customer deposits to Grinex. Grinex claimed to have been formed in response to sanctions affecting Garantex and has since facilitated billions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions. OFAC has also renewed sanctions against Garantex and its co-founders, along with several partner companies in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. The Department of State announced a reward of up to $6 million for information leading to the arrests of Garantex executives. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley stated that exploiting cryptocurrency exchanges for money laundering and ransomware attacks poses a threat to national security and damages the reputation of legitimate virtual asset service providers. The Department of State reported that Garantex processed over $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions from April 2019 to March 2025. 

Categories: Sanctions, Cryptocurrency Exchanges, Cybercrime 

Tags: Sanctions, Grinex, Garantex, Cryptocurrency, Ransomware, Money Laundering, Darknet, Cybercrime, Treasury Department, Virtual Assets