Experts from the analytical company Global Ledger have released a new report on the activities of the sanctioned cryptocurrency exchange Garantex. It has been found that unfrozen exchange wallets hold crypto assets worth over 15 million dollars. The movement of funds in these accounts continued even after stablecoins USDT were blocked on the platform.
This is reported by Business • Media
Asset Movement After USDT Blocking
The operation of the Garantex exchange was effectively halted on March 6, 2025. This occurred after the decision by Tether, the issuer of USDT, to freeze the exchange’s wallets. At that time, assets worth approximately 2.5 billion rubles, which was about 28 million dollars, were blocked in stablecoins on the accounts.
Later, Global Ledger specialists established that the Garantex team launched a new cryptocurrency exchange called Grinex, continuing their operations under a different brand.
Report Details: Assets and Fund Movement
According to the report, Garantex retained not only USDT but also other digital assets, including bitcoins, ERC20 and BEP20 standard tokens, as well as a new stablecoin A7A5, denominated in rubles.
By March 6, the exchange’s Ethereum wallet had accumulated 3265 ETH (approximately 8.6 million dollars). This wallet became active at the end of the month — from March 22 to June 4, 2025, 844.99 ETH was withdrawn from it, which was subsequently sent to the mixer Tornado Cash. As of June 4, 2334.25 ETH remained in the account.
Garantex also controls 30.04 BTC, a significant portion of which was concentrated on March 6. On May 8, 2.2 BTC were transferred to the TRON network, and these funds were sent to Grinex accounts. Additionally, over 4 million dollars in crypto assets are located on the BNB Chain network.
“While this [approximately $15 million] may only represent a portion of the exchange’s total reserves, the fact that such a large amount remains in circulation (more than half of the already frozen assets) highlights the scale of how traditional measures may be ineffective in the cross-chain space,” stated Global Ledger.