Garantex Exchange Halts Operations After Tether Freezes $27 Million in USDT

On March 6, Garantex, a sanctioned crypto exchange, announced a temporary suspension of crypto trading and withdrawals after Tether froze $27 million worth of USDT on the platform. The exchange stated on Telegram that Tether blocked wallets containing over 2.5 billion rubles, accusing Tether of waging "war against the Russian crypto market." Garantex warned this could set a precedent for Russian USDT holdings and vowed to challenge the decision. The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) initially sanctioned Garantex in April 2022, and the EU recently followed suit, citing ties to sanctioned Russian banks. US and UK authorities are also investigating Garantex for allegedly facilitating over $20 billion in transactions to evade sanctions.