Key Takeaways
- The U.S. has expanded sanctions against Garantex and associated entities.
- Co-founder Aleksandr Ntifo-Siaw is wanted in the U.S. for money laundering charges.
- The State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
The United States has tightened the noose on the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex.
On Aug. 14, 2025, the Treasury announced sanctions targeting Garantex, its successor Grinex, and key executives.
Meanwhile, the State Department has offered up to $6 million in rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the exchange’s leaders.
U.S. Sanctions Russian Crypto Exchange
The latest crackdown on Garantex comes more than three years after the exchange was initially sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) over its ties to the Darknet marketplace, Hydra.
According to the U.S. Secret Service and FBI, over the years, Garantex has received hundreds of millions in criminal proceeds.
The platform has helped facilitate hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking, “often with substantial harm to U.S. victims,” the State Department said on Thursday, Aug. 14.
In March 2025, a coordinated international law enforcement operation seized Garantex’s domains, froze over $26 million in crypto assets, and resulted in indictments of leaders for money laundering.
However, the government alleges that Garantex’s leaders used a new identity and the cover of a ruble-pegged, Kyrgyzstan-based stablecoin to evade the law.
Grinex and A7A5 Token
After U.S. and international partners froze Garantex’s assets and domains, the same operators re-emerged under the name Grinex, offering near-identical services.
At the heart of this effort was the stablecoin A7A5, launched in Kyrgyzstan in early 2025 by a company called Old Vector.
According to U.S. officials, A7A5 served as a tactical replacement for funds that were frozen in the March crackdown, enabling seamless continuation of illicit activity.
Former Garantex users were credited with the token equivalent of their frozen balances, allowing them to trade or redeem on the new platform.
In June, Financial Times reported that A7A5 had been used to move approximately $9.3 billion across borders in its first four months, giving it remarkable traction among Russian actors seeking to circumvent Western financial restrictions.
$5 Million Bounty for Russian Exchange Boss
The State Department has placed a $6 million price tag on information about Garantex’s operators.
$5 million is earmarked for tips leading to the arrest or conviction of co-founder Aleksandr Ntifo-Siaw, also known as Aleksandr Mira Serda.
Ntifo-Siaw is accused of helping launder billions through Garantex and its successor Grinex, while concealing the exchange’s role in cybercrime, narcotics trafficking, and sanctions evasion.
He is already under indictment in the United States for conspiracy to commit money laundering and is on the Secret Service’s most wanted list.
Another $1 million is being offered for information on Ntifo-Siaw’s associates, including former Garantex executives indicted alongside him.
By escalating sanctions and dangling multimillion-dollar rewards, Washington is sending a clear message as the U.S. doubles down on efforts to bring Garantex’s leadership to justice and choke off one of the most prolific crypto pipelines for Russian illicit finance.
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James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
