OFAC Sanctions Crypto Network Behind Ruble-Backed Stablecoin and Shuttered Exchange Garantex
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday sanctioned a network of companies, exchanges and executives linked to shuttered Russian crypto exchange Garantex and the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5, accusing them of helping Moscow skirt international sanctions.
Garantex, founded in 2019 and once licensed in Estonia, processed more than $100 million in transactions linked to ransomware and darknet activity, OFAC said. U.S. officials, working with German and Finnish police, seized its web domain and froze $26 million in March, which quickly prompted the creation of its successor Grinex to continue operations, officials said.
OFAC said on Thursday that Grinex transferred customer funds from Garantex and used the…
