The U.S. Treasury has “re-designated” Russia’s Garantex crypto exchange for processing illegal transactions of over $100 million since 2019. The process of re-designation means an entity already on a sanctions list is being targeted again — under a new legal authority.
On Thursday, August 14 the Treasury said it was sanctioning Grinex, a cryptocurrency exchange set up as Garantex’s successor as well. In addition, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has included three Garantex executives, and six associated companies in Russia and the Kyrgyz Republic to the sanctions list.
This step is aimed at cutting the access to these individuals and crypto platforms for U.S. residents.
“The Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP) is offering two rewards totaling up to $6 million for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of leaders of Garantex,” the announcement declared.
Citing findings by the U.S. Secret Service and FBI, the Treasury said that Garantex processed at least $96 billion in crypto transactions between April 2019 and March 2025. It added that the exchange is responsible for facilitating the transfer of illegal funds amounting to “hundreds of millions”.
The statement has furthermore alleged that the exchange has also been involved in facilitating various crimes, “including hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking, often with substantial harm to U.S. victims”.
Reacting to the development, onchain analytics firm Chainalysis has published a blog detailing how the network of Garantex, Grinex, and its affiliates operates.
The exchange, founded in 2019, conducts the majority of its operations from Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was originally registered in Estonia, however, in 2022 it lost its licence there after financial authorities found the exchange linked to criminally suspected wallets. The same year, the OFAC had also imposed its first sanction against the exchange.
“Digital assets play a crucial role in global innovation and economic development, and the United States will not tolerate abuse of this industry to support cybercrime and sanctions evasion,” said John K. Hurley, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.