The US has sanctioned Garantex for the second time, calling the Russian-operated cryptocurrency exchange a hub for money laundering by cybercriminals and crime groups.
Garantex was founded in 2019 in Estonia. Following the start of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Estonia revoked its license to operate in the country.
The US Treasury said Garantex let illegal actors exploit its systems and first announced sanctions against the exchange in April 2022, citing its role in laundering funds for ransomware groups and darknet markets.
Despite earlier US sanctions in 2022, Garantex processed more than $60 billion after its blacklisting, using tactics like rotating wallet addresses in an attempt to avoid detection, the global leader in blockchain analytics Elliptic data showed.
Now, the US State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program is offering up to $6 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Garantex leaders. That includes up to $5 million for Russian national Aleksandr Mira Serda, also known as “Aleksandr Ntifo-Siaw,” and up to $1 million for other senior figures, the US Department of State reported in a press release.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) re-designated Garantex and added sanctions on Grinex, a crypto exchange created as its successor. OFAC also sanctioned three Garantex executives and six partner companies in Russia and Kyrgyzstan.
According to the US Secret Service and FBI, Garantex processed hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit funds, enabling hacking, ransomware operations, terrorism financing, and drug trafficking, often with substantial harm to US victims.
From April 2019 to March 2025, the platform handled at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions, the release says.
Garantex is not the only Russian exchange under US sanctions – others include Bitzlato, Cryptex, and NetEx24, which, along with several smaller platforms, have been accused of enabling illicit transactions and sanctions evasion.