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What the U.S. Seized in the Garantex Cryptocurrency Crackdown

The March 2025 Garantex operation seized domains and servers and froze cryptocurrency, while criminal charges and later sanctions against successor Grinex remained separate actions.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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In March 2025, U.S. authorities seized three Garantex web domains and froze more than $26 million in cryptocurrency, while German and Finnish authorities seized servers hosting the exchange’s operations. The action disrupted key infrastructure, but it did not mean the entire exchange or every customer account was seized. The Justice Department also unsealed criminal charges against two administrators; those charges are allegations, not convictions.

What authorities seized in March 2025

On March 6, U.S. law enforcement led by the Secret Service executed a judge-authorized seizure order against Garantex.org, Garantex.io, and Garantex.academy. German and Finnish authorities separately seized servers that hosted Garantex operations. The U.S. also froze more than $26 million in cryptocurrency controlled by Garantex. The Justice Department said authorities had obtained copies of servers earlier, including customer and accounting databases.

These actions targeted domains, hosting infrastructure, and identified funds. They do not establish that authorities seized every Garantex asset or account, or that the exchange as a whole was taken into government ownership.

What the indictment alleges

On March 7, 2025, the Justice Department announced an indictment against Garantex administrators Aleksej Besciokov and Aleksandr Mira Serda. Both were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Besciokov was also charged with conspiracy to violate sanctions and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Prosecutors allege the defendants facilitated transactions involving criminal proceeds and concealed illicit activity.

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The charges are not findings of guilt. The Justice Department stated: “An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.” The available official updates through August 14, 2025 do not establish a later court outcome or the defendants’ current legal status.

How to read the headline figures

The figures describe different things and should not be treated as interchangeable measures of money laundering:

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Figure What it measures Source and date
At least $96 billion Total cryptocurrency transaction volume DOJ said Garantex processed since April 2019; this is not the amount alleged to have been laundered. U.S. Department of Justice, March 7, 2025
Over $100 million Transactions Treasury said were linked to illicit activity since 2019; this is not Garantex’s total processed volume. U.S. Department of the Treasury, August 14, 2025
More than $26 million Cryptocurrency U.S. authorities said they froze during the March 2025 operation. U.S. Department of Justice, March 2025
Nearly $6 million; approximately $2.6 million Treasury cited these as known Garantex transactions associated with Conti and Hydra, respectively. U.S. Department of the Treasury, April 5, 2022

Why Garantex was sanctioned before the 2025 operation

The March action followed earlier sanctions. On April 5, 2022, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Garantex under Executive Order 14024, connecting the exchange to Russia’s financial sector and transactions associated with illicit actors and darknet markets. Treasury also reported that Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit had identified anti-money-laundering and countering-the-financing-of-terrorism deficiencies and links between Garantex and wallets used for criminal activity. Garantex lost its Estonian digital-asset services license in February 2022, before the U.S. sanctions announcement.

How the seizure differs from sanctions

The March 2025 domain seizure and server actions were law-enforcement steps carried out under a judge-authorized order, alongside a freeze on identified cryptocurrency. OFAC sanctions are a separate Treasury tool: the 2022 action and the later redesignation restrict dealings with designated entities. A sanctions designation is not the same action as seizing a website or server, and neither an indictment nor a designation by itself proves an individual defendant guilty.

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What happened after the disruption

On August 14, 2025, Treasury announced OFAC’s redesignation of Garantex and designation of Grinex, which it described as Garantex’s successor. Treasury said Garantex moved its customer base and funds to Grinex after the March law-enforcement disruption. The later action indicates that the March seizure and freeze did not, by themselves, end the activity Treasury attributed to the operation; it does not establish the status of every former customer balance.

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