Garantex to Grinex – Illegitimate Russian marketplace moves operations to new platform

Garantex exchange, a Russian crypto exchange that was taken down after sanctions violations and alleged links to money laundering for international criminal organizations by the United States Department of Justice in collaboration with German and Finnish law enforcement, has reportedly resurfaced as a new crypto exchange called Grinex. 

According to an investigation by Global Ledger, a Swiss blockchain analysis company, Garantex has moved its liquidity to Grinex and has continued business as usual after its recent shutdown. 

Global Ledger went on to provide evidence from its investigation, showing on-chain and off-chain activities that followed patterns similar to Garantex. As of mid-March, Grinex was reported to have received over $29 million. 

As part of its investigation, Global Ledger discovered that the ruble-backed stablecoin, A7A5, which was previously listed only on two exchanges, Garantex and BiFinance, is now available on Grinex. 

Coincidentally, Garantex transferred 4.5 billion A7A5 from its blocked wallet to Grinex. The whole process that led to this transfer of funds is well documented by Global Ledger with the transactions reminiscent of the modus operandi of Garantex. 

In the detailed report released by Global Ledger, the user interface of both exchanges is quite similar, with very few visible differences between them. Also, a coinmarketrating review of Grinex adds credence to the claim that Garantex has rebranded and resumed operations as Grinex. The report explicitly stated that the exchange platform was created by Garantex after its platform was sanctioned internationally and subsequently blocked. 

Garantex has a long history of illegal dealings

Garantex is a known non-regulatory compliant crypto exchange that has served as a platform for bad actors in the crypto space. The exchange was notorious for serving as a major money laundering platform and was used by ransomware groups such as Conti and Black Basta, among others.

The platform also served as a fertile ground for moving DarkNet market (DNMs) proceeds linked to drug trafficking and child sex abuse materials (CSAM).

It’s also reported that Garantex also served as the platform for laundering over $22 million of funds stolen from a hacked blockchain in the US. The platform has also been linked to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean government-backed hacking collective known for major crypto theft globally, most recently the Bybit hack. It has also been linked to some Russian cybercriminal forums and terrorist financing.

In 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury, which administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security, sanctioned Garantex for its role in facilitating the laundering of funds from ransomware actors and darknet markets. 

However, Garantex still continued transacting illegally in the US, using various tactics to avoid detection and occasionally changing its operations using tactics such as constantly changing wallet addresses to avoid compliance requirements. Garantex also broke US federal regulations by carrying out financial operations in the US without registering with FinCEN. 

An international clampdown on the platform

On March 7, 2025, the platform was finally brought to its knees in a joint international effort involving a collaboration between public law enforcement and private stakeholders in the blockchain space. Tether joined in blocking its operational wallets, thereby limiting its ability to move some funds. 

As predicted by Chainalysis, Garantex has quickly rebranded and resumed operations, moving its customers to the new platform. This isn’t the first time a platform that was shut down by regulators sprang up with a new name with the Suex and Chatex case being a perfect example.  

The partnership between public and private actors to curb transnational cybercrime in the crypto space is a welcome development and organizations like Global Ledger are ensuring that there’s adequate awareness about the operations of bad actors like Garantex. 

While Global Ledger’s investigation conclusively showed that Garantex now has a successor in Grinex, it did not answer the question on many of our minds — how soon will the hammer of the regulator and international law enforcement bodies come down on this new exchange?

Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now