According to Cointelegraph, Global Ledger found that the active reserves of the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex exceeded $15 million, with some funds being transferred. The report states that a dormant Garantex Ethereum wallet began accumulating ETH and transferred $2.3 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash. The wallet still holds $6.1 million in ETH.
The same pattern is also seen in Bitcoin holdings, with approximately 2.2 BTC being bridged to the TRON network and then partially transferred to Grinex. Lex Fisun, co-founder and CEO of Global Ledger, stated that this indicates a failure in the enforcement of sanctions.
On March 6, Tether froze $27 million in USDT on Garantex, causing the exchange to suspend operations. In April 2022, the U.S. Treasury first imposed sanctions on Garantex, and the European Union will follow up on February 24, 2025.
On March 12, Garantex founder Aleksej Bešciokov was arrested while vacationing in India and may be extradited to the U.S. to face multiple conspiracy charges. Osman Kabaloev, an official from the Russian Ministry of Finance, stated that the country should develop its own stablecoin and plans to launch a cryptocurrency exchange.
