Less than two weeks after having been removed by the international law enforcement authorities, Guarantx – an exchange of popular Russian crypto with ransomware gangs and oligarchs that have passed out sanctions – would have already been removed from ashes, rebounding like Grinene.
According to a new report by the Blockchain of Swiss analysis Global Ledger, a series of ON and Off-Chain data indicates that Grinene is a direct successor to Guarantx. A certain liquidity of Guarantx, including all the guarantex assets of a stable on the back of the ruble called A7A5, has already been moved to wallets controlled by Grinene.
The CEO of Global Ledger, Lex Fisun, told Coindesk that, in addition to the data on chain connecting Garix to Grinex, there have been many out -of -chain indications that the two exchanges are intimately connected. Fisun highlighted Grinene’s rapid growth, who he said had exceeded $ 40 million in volume in just two weeks, as well as a multitude of social media links between the two exchanges.
Although other major blockchain analysis companies, including TRM Labs and Chainalysis, have not yet confirmed the conclusions of Global Ledger, the head of the national security chain intelligence, Andrew Fierman, told Coindesk that he had seen several indicators that Grinene should be the change of guarantee.
Fierman underlined a recent telegram commentary by Sergey Mendeleev, one of the original founders of Garantex, announcing the creation of Grinene and claiming any similarity between the two exchanges was random – followed by two emojis who laughed. Fierman and Fisun told Coindesk that there were many Garants user reports going to the offices in Person of Garantinex in Europe and the Middle East and transferring their Crypto from Garantus to Grinene. The two also highlighted the similarities in the user interfaces of the two platforms.
Although the evidence is certainly convincing, Fierman said that until the analysis chain ends its examination of the Grinene infrastructure, it cannot permanently validate the accuracy of the report of the big book.
But, if Grinene is, in fact, a change in the brand of Guarantx, it would not be the first time that a sanctioned exchange has been redone after a closure. In 2017, the Russian Crypto Exchange BTC-E was suppressed by the American police, then renamed Wex. Wex did not last long – he closed a year later due to internal conflicts and combat among his remaining leaders. Likewise, Russian exchanges sanctioned SUX renamed Chatex and was then sanctioned again.
The problem with sanctions
The rapid Garantine renewal demonstrates the challenge of sanctions, in particular against criminal operations such as non -compliant exchanges, Darknet markets and ransomware gangs which can simply transform to avoid detection.
“The escape of sanctions will occur,” said Proudon. “Because if you are sanctioned, you are not going to just accept that you can no longer perform financial transactions. You will seek to avoid detection, but this can be, whether by creating bus companies, creating new cryptographic wallets – and the greater the operation, the more technique should be more important.”
Feirson said that this problem was not unique to crypto, but the sanctions related to the crypto offer the police a unique opportunity to follow the money after the implementation of the sanctions.
“The unique aspect of blockchain is that it is transparent and immutable, and therefore what is happening when a company is closed is much more examined,” said proud. “There is much more to examine in mind. Guarantx is closed, their queues are seized, but that does not prevent them from moving other assets. There is the possibility of monitoring what happens to these post-official funds.”
A network of potential successors of the Hydra type
Whether Grinene is Guaixex 2.0 or not, there are a number of other non -compliant Russian cryptography exchanges eager and arranged to take its place.
Ari Redbord, a global official of government policies and affairs at TRM Labs, told Coindesk that it was simply “too early” to definitively assess the relationship between Grinene and Guarantx. “That said, it is clear that other high-risk exchanges will try to fill the vacuum of illegal finance left by Garantinex,” he added.
A recent customer report by TRM Labs has appointed several possible successors, including Russian Risk Exchanges ABCEX and Keine-Exchange.
Guarantex Take up
Guarantx was dismantled by the United States, Germany and Finland international police during a joint operation earlier this month, which seized its domain and its servers.
The Department of Control of Foreign Assets of the US Treasury (OFAC) first sanctioned the Stock Exchange in 2022, accusing it of knowingly facilitating money laundering for ransomware gangs like Black Basta and Conti, as well as Darknet markets as Hydra.
According to court documents, the Guarantex clientele also included the Piracy of North Korea, the Piracy Group sanctioned by the State, the Lazare group, which was behind the recent hack of $ 1.4 billion, as well as the Russian oligarchs who used the service to escape the sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Two of the Guarantors operators, the national and Russian resident of Lithuanian Aleksej Bisciokov and the Russian citizen and the Arab resident of the Arab Emirates Aleksandr Mira Serda were accused of conspiracy of money laundering in the context of their work with Guarantx. Bisciokov was arrested during his vacation with his family in India earlier this month, and should be extradited to the United States to face accusations.
