U.S. sanctions Garantex successor Grinex as A7A5 fuels Russian crypto sanctions evasion

U.S. authorities escalated action against the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex after a March international law-enforcement operation seized its domains and servers, froze more than $26 million in cryptocurrency, and unsealed charges against alleged operators Aleksej Besciokov and Aleksandr Mira Serda. The Justice Department, Secret Service, FBI, Germany, and Finland said Garantex processed at least $96 billion in transactions since 2019 and was used to launder proceeds from hacking, ransomware, terrorism, drug trafficking, and sanctions violations, including activity that continued after OFAC sanctioned the exchange in 2022. The State and Treasury departments later expanded the pressure campaign by offering rewards of up to $6 million for information on Garantex leadership and sanctioning executives and affiliated firms.

Investigators and blockchain analysts say activity quickly shifted to replacement infrastructure in Kyrgyzstan, where Grinex emerged as Garantex’s successor and the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5 became a major channel for cross-border transfers linked to Russian sanctions evasion. Reporting cited transfer volumes above $1 billion per day and $41.2 billion in cumulative value by late July 2025, with A7A5 marketed as a lower-freeze-risk route into USDT after the Garantex takedown. Treasury subsequently designated Grinex, while broader U.K. and U.S. scrutiny of Kyrgyz banks and crypto services underscored how sanctions-evasion networks are moving from traditional banking rails to regional exchanges, stablecoins, and decentralized liquidity pools.