PANews reported on March 20 that according to The Block, the operator of the sanctioned cryptocurrency exchange Garantex has allegedly launched a new trading platform, according to analysis firm Global Ledger. The new exchange, called Grinex, is also said to be operating in Russia.
According to Global Ledger, Garantex is moving its liquidity and customer deposits to Grinex. The new exchange appears to use the same infrastructure and is being promoted as a solution to circumvent sanctions. The new exchange has also introduced the ruble stablecoin A7A5, launched by Promsvyazbank’s cross-border payments platform A7. On-chain data shows that the exchange has processed nearly $30 million worth of transactions. According to on-chain data, between February 8 and March 1, Garantex transferred billions of A7A5 stablecoins on Tron to new addresses associated with Grinex. Global Ledger said: "These findings suggest that Grinex is not an independent entity, but a full-fledged successor to Garantex, and its financial operations continue despite the official closure of the exchange."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice, in cooperation with German and Finnish authorities, froze multiple domains associated with Garantex, which has reportedly processed more than $96 billion in criminal proceeds since its launch in 2019. Tether also cooperated by freezing $23 million worth of funds associated with the platform.
