Garantex

Main article: Cryptocurrency exchanges

2025

Garantex administrator detained in India at US request

On March 12, 2025, it became known that Indian law enforcement agencies, at the request of the United States, detained the alleged administrator of the Russian crypto exchange Garantex Alexei Beschekov. He is accused of conspiring to launder money and violating sanctions. Read more here.

Shutdown after blocking wallets for 2.5 billion rubles

In March 2025, Tether blocked cryptocurrency on Garantex wallets worth 2.5 billion rubles. As a result, trading on the site was suspended due to "technical work," Garantex said. They clarified that they suspended the withdrawal of cryptocurrency until the "team solves the problem." According to experts interviewed by RBC, most Russian crypto investors have not yet faced blocking, but the risk remains real and the use of exchanges that are under sanctions can lead to problems.

Falling under EU sanctions for "making and withdrawing money through T-Bank, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank"

On February 24, 2025, the European Union approved the 16th package of sanctions against Russia. The list of other organizations includes the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex.

EU documents say the Garantex platform is closely linked to Russian banks under sanctions. In particular, crypto exchange users can enter and withdraw funds using cards of Sberbank, T-Bank (formerly Tinkoff Bank) and Alfa-Bank. Clients of these credit institutions, as emphasized, can access the global financial system through Garantex, since rubles from bank accounts are transferred to cryptocurrency, and then this cryptocurrency is exchanged for other foreign currencies.

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Фото: Freepik

Thus, by offering services for the entry and withdrawal of funds to customers of these three banks, Garantex interacts with credit institutions under EU sanctions, the explanatory document to the 16th package of sanctions emphasizes.

Garantex became the first crypto exchange based in Russia to fall under European sanctions. At the same time, the US Treasury Department introduced restrictive measures against this platform in April 2022. Garantex Communications Director Evgenia Burova told RBC that European sanctions will not affect the work of the site and its clients.

The imposition of sanctions against Garantex is a recognition of the role of cryptocurrency in the global financial market as an equal instrument. If in 2022 the wording of the OFAC press release (Office of Foreign Assets Control as part of the US Treasury Department - approx. TAdviser) could mislead the public that Garantex is somehow connected with dubious transactions, now all parties obviously recognize that Garantex is connected only with Russia, and the reason for the sanctions is precisely this, "Burova emphasizes.[1]

2023: Russia passed its first verdict for p2p trading on a crypto exchange. Garantex appears in the case

In February 2023 Russia , the first verdict was passed for p2p trading on. to the cryptoexchange The Russian was sentenced to two years probation for "conspiracy with an unknown attacker," to whom the accused sold a ruble code on the Garantex cryptocurrency exchange.

According to a representative of the legal agency Cartesius, the convicted trader sold a code in the amount of 900 thousand rubles through the P2P service of the Russian exchange Garantex. However, after crediting funds to the card, her account was arrested in a criminal case of fraud, initiated on the basis of the appeal of a certain victim.

The convict sold the code for 900 thousand rubles, but after crediting the funds, his account was arrested

When the trader turned to the district department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to appeal the arrest of his bank account, the trader was detained. According to Cartesius, investigators put pressure on the detainee, insisting that he was in collusion with fraudsters. According to the logic of the investigation, the funds received on the trader's bank card for the transaction are the final phase of the crime, and the percentage received is a criminal reward. The charge was built around the claim that the trader "allowed the possibility of obtaining dirty money when selling codes."

As a result, the trader admitted his guilt, most likely going to a deal with investigators. The court found in the actions of the trader intent and an agreement reached in advance with the fraudsters, as well as the concealment of the criminally obtained money. The defendant was found guilty of large-scale fraud (part 3 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), but escaped with a suspended sentence. The founder of the legal agency Cartesius Ignat Likhunov said that the man got into the "triangle" - a fraudulent scheme in which three people are actually involved in transactions through the crypto exchange. According to him, due to the lack of legislative regulation of cryptocurrency turnover, such cases of stealing money and transferring it to cryptocurrency wallets of unknown persons appear often.^[2]

2022: US Treasury Department sanctions

In April 2022 U.S. Treasury Department , it imposed sanctions on the darknet marketplace, Hydra but also against cryptocurrency exchange Garantex.

It was reported that the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury (OFAC) identified more than 100 cryptocurrency addresses related to illegal transactions. An analysis of well-known Garantex transactions showed that transactions worth more than $100 million are associated with illegal entities and darknet marketplaces. Of these, almost $6 million came from the Russian hacker group Conti and about $2.6 million from Hydra.

OFAC has blocked any Hydra and Garantex property within U.S. borders. Residents and citizens of the country are prohibited from working with platforms.

2021: Exchange founder Stanislav Drugalev dies after falling from Dubai bridge

Stanislav Drugalev, a Russian entrepreneur and general director of the Karavan-Telecom telecommunications company, launched and developed IT companies, in particular Garantex, a cryptocurrency exchange with a high trading volume and a large user base that provides services in Russia and other countries of the world.

February 7, 2021 Stanislav Drugalev died. The actual cause of death is a fall from a bridge at a road junction in Dubai. The events that entailed the death of a businessman are being investigated by law enforcement agencies. The location of Stanislav's personal belongings and electronic devices is unknown.

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