Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange, transferred over 261,000 dollars in ETH through Tornado Cash, indicating ongoing laundering activities. Despite suffering significant setbacks such as sanctions and asset freezes, Garantex continues attempting laundering through Ethereum obfuscation routes. Blockchain analysis by Global Ledger reveals Garantex's use of Tornado Cash to conceal transfers, keeping its operations under scrutiny.
According to an exclusive report from Global Ledger, the Russian exchange Garantex, which was forced to shut down in March, continues to actively launder cryptocurrencies. On-chain data suggests that Garantex has used Tornado Cash to transfer ETH worth over 261,000 dollars. Despite U.S. sanctions, the company is experimenting with ways to continue its laundering operations.
Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange, has suffered major setbacks following recent international sanctions for money laundering. The DOJ seized its domains, Indian authorities arrested its co-founder, and Tether froze over 28 million dollars of its assets in March.
Since then, Garantex has reportedly ceased operations, but new data suggests it is using Tornado Cash to move Ethereum;
"We have identified a suspicious flow from an active Garantex wallet to Tornado Cash, suggesting ongoing laundering activity despite formal shutdowns. Garantex's operational wallets remain active on Ethereum, and assets are still funneled through obfuscation routes. In total, around 261,000 dollars are in motion from Garantex's hot wallets on Ethereum," signed Global Ledger.
A few months ago, BeInCrypto reported that Garantex had reportedly rebranded to Grinex after closing. The exchange used the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5 to transfer funds to the new platform. Today, Global Ledger identified another batch of ETH tokens transferred from a hot wallet of Grantex to the mixer Tornado Cash.
Specifically, Garantex's hot wallet initiated a transfer of 99 ETH, valued at approximately 261,000 dollars, to an intermediary address. From this intermediary wallet, the ETH was split into three separate transactions, which were sent to another intermediary wallet (0x3f…7e6a). This indicates an effort to stratify and obscure the trace, an established money laundering technique.
So, what does this mean? The wallet originally attributed to Garantex remains capable of executing transactions. Despite the DOJ's claims of having completely shut it down, the exchange's infrastructure remains at least partially intact. Previously, Chainalysis identified that Garantex received funds from all kinds of criminal activities.
Most of its funds included stolen cryptocurrencies linked to major hacks, ransomware, and darknet markets. Therefore, it would not be far-fetched to claim that the exchange is still attempting to launder these illicit funds through the active Ethereum wallet.
