$20bn could have passed through Russian crypto exchange Garantex to circumvent sanctions
The US and UK are checking the possibility of these transactions
The United States and the United Kingdom are investigating more than $20 billion in cryptocurrency transactions that went through the Russian crypto exchange Garantex. It is believed that it was used to circumvent anti-Russian sanctions. This is one of the largest violations of sanctions in their history.
Source. Bloomberg reports this with reference to anonymous sources.
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The suspicious payments were made using the dollar-pegged Tether currency. This is the world's best-selling cryptocurrency with a turnover of $100 billion.
In response to the publication's request, Tether Holdings said it had frozen the assets of all companies that were subject to US sanctions.
The Garanthex exchange was founded in Estonia in 2019, but lost its Estonian licence after the outbreak of war and is now operating in Moscow.
Its website offers to withdraw money to cards of sanctioned Russian banks – Sberbank, Tinkoff and Alfa-Bank.
Earlier, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 11 Russian fintech organisations, including the virtual currency exchange service Bitpapa. It is believed that millions of dollars worth of transactions involving Hydra and Garantex could have been conducted through it.
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