Japan has added Russian crypto exchange Garantex to an asset-freeze list under a broader sanctions package tied to Russia. The designation took effect on Oct. 2, placing the exchange alongside other targets including defense-related companies, industrial firms and vessels connected to Russia’s oil trade.

The move extends a years-long enforcement campaign against Garantex that has already included U.S. sanctions, a 2025 domain seizure and action by the European Union. Even so, authorities and blockchain investigators have said the exchange continued handling large volumes after its first designation, while U.S. officials later alleged that customer funds were moved to a successor platform called Grinex.

Japan expands sanctions to cover Garantex

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs listed Garantex Europe OU in its Oct. 2 sanctions annex. Under Japan’s Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, residents and companies must obtain permission to make payments to the exchange or enter certain deposit, trust and loan arrangements with it. In practice, withholding that permission results in an asset freeze.

The package was not limited to crypto. Japan also imposed measures affecting 35 vessels linked to Russia’s oil trade, restricted exports to four entities outside Russia and Belarus, and widened controls on goods that could support Russia’s industrial base. Within that larger package, Garantex stood out as the main digital-asset business named.

A sanctioned exchange that kept operating

Garantex was first sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 5, 2022, when OFAC said the exchange operated in Russia’s financial-services sector. Treasury later said that since 2019, more than $100 million in transactions processed through Garantex were tied to ransomware, terrorism and other illicit activity.

According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, the exchange processed more than $60 billion after the 2022 U.S. sanctions and more than $96 billion in total. Estonia had already revoked Garantex’s license over anti-money-laundering failures, and the European Union later sanctioned the platform as well.

The pressure intensified in March 2025. The U.S. Secret Service, working with foreign partners, seized Garantex’s domain, and the U.S. Justice Department unsealed indictments against executives Aleksandr Mira Serda and Aleksej Besciokov. Besciokov was arrested in India. Tether had also frozen stablecoins on the platform.

Treasury says activity shifted to Grinex

U.S. authorities later said the shutdown of Garantex’s website did not end the underlying business. Treasury alleged that Garantex personnel transferred customer deposits to another exchange, Grinex.

Records cited by Treasury showed Grinex was incorporated in Kyrgyzstan in December 2024, months before Garantex lost its domain in March 2025. On Aug. 14, 2025, OFAC re-designated Garantex and sanctioned Grinex, three executives and six related companies in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Another successor platform, Exved, was also named.

TRM Labs has described this type of migration as a recurring pattern in parts of the crypto sector: when enforcement pressure builds, replacement venues can be prepared in advance so customers, wallets and trading activity move quickly to a new platform.

What Japan’s action changes next

Japan’s listing adds another jurisdiction to the sanctions perimeter around Garantex, but the measure does not name Grinex and does not by itself reach crypto assets outside Japanese jurisdiction. It also does not reverse the large volumes that investigators say continued to flow through Garantex after the first U.S. action in 2022.

There is a limited grace period for contracts that predate Oct. 2, provided obligations are completed before Nov. 1. Beyond that, the next confirmed step is Japan’s enforcement of the new restrictions on payments and related arrangements involving Garantex under its existing sanctions framework.

Source: news.bitcoin.com