Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hits Garantex With Asset Freeze

Japan Freezes an Exchange That Already Got the Ax

Japan has frozen the assets of a Russian crypto exchange that U.S. authorities effectively knocked offline 19 months ago, illustrating the peculiar game of international sanctions whack-a-mole.

Garantex Europe OU landed at No. 402 on Japan’s Oct. 2 sanctions annex, tucked among defense contractors, industrial companies and a package targeting 35 vessels linked to Russia’s oil trade. Yet Garantex had already been sanctioned by Washington in 2022, lost its domain to the U.S. Secret Service in March 2025 and watched Tether freeze stablecoins on its platform. By then, however, the next act was already underway.

More Than $96 Billion Passed Through Garantex

Garantex was hardly a bit player. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control first sanctioned the exchange on April 5, 2022, saying it operated in Russia’s financial-services sector. Treasury later said more than $100 million in transactions processed by Garantex since 2019 were tied to ransomware, terrorism, and other illicit activity. That didn’t exactly put the brakes on business.

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said Garantex processed more than $60 billion after the 2022 sanctions and more than $96 billion altogether. Estonia had already revoked its license over anti-money-laundering failures, while the European Union eventually sanctioned the exchange as well.

The heat finally intensified in March 2025. The U.S. Secret Service and foreign partners seized Garantex’s domain, while the Justice Department unsealed indictments against executives Aleksandr Mira Serda and Aleksej Besciokov. Besciokov was arrested in India. On paper, Garantex had been clobbered.

The Successor Was Waiting in the Wings

There was a problem with that tidy ending. Treasury later said Garantex personnel transferred customer deposits to another exchange called Grinex. Records cited by Treasury showed the platform Grinex had been incorporated in Kyrgyzstan in December 2024, months before Garantex’s domain was seized. Rather than rebuild after the raid, the operators apparently had somewhere for the business to go.

By Aug. 14, 2025, OFAC had re-designated Garantex and sanctioned Grinex, three executives, and six related companies in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Another successor platform, Exved, was named as well. TRM Labs has described the maneuver as a feature of this corner of the crypto business. Exchanges facing enforcement can prepare replacement venues in advance, allowing customers, wallets, and trading activity to migrate when authorities come knocking. The storefront gets the ax. The machinery keeps moving.

Tokyo Closes Another Door

Japan’s latest action nevertheless closes a real financial door. Under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, Japanese residents and companies now need permission to make payments to Garantex Europe OU or enter certain deposit, trust, and loan arrangements with it. In practice, refusing that permission produces the asset freeze. Contracts predating Oct. 2 receive a limited grace period when obligations are completed before Nov. 1.

Tokyo’s package reaches well beyond crypto. Japan also restricted exports to four entities outside Russia and Belarus, placed 35 vessels under controls covering specified services and financing, and expanded restrictions on goods capable of strengthening Russia’s industrial base. Garantex is the odd duck in the bunch, a crypto exchange sitting amid factories, defense companies, and ships.

Japan’s listing also doesn’t name the sanctioned exchange Grinex, freeze crypto sitting beyond Japanese jurisdiction, or somehow rewind the billions that moved through Garantex after its first sanctions designation. That leaves an awkward arithmetic behind the paperwork. Authorities can sanction a name, seize a website, and freeze balances. The harder problem begins when the people behind the name have already packed their bags.