Tether Initiates Battle: Crypto Exchange Garantex Suspends Operations
The Russia-based crypto exchange Garantex announced a temporary halt in its operations due to the blocking of crypto wallets.
In a written statement from Garantex, subjected to sanctions by the European Union, it was reported that around $28 million worth of crypto wallets on the platform had been blocked by Tether. The statement indicated that Tether had “declared war” on the Russian crypto market, stating, “We have bad news. While resolving this issue, we are temporarily suspending all services, including crypto withdrawal transactions.” The EU had included Garantex in the 16th sanction package in 2025 due to its close ties with Russian banks subjected to sanctions until 2025.
On March 6, 2025, Garantex had announced that Tether’s digital wallets on the platform were blocked, forcing them to halt operations. Digital assets and cryptocurrencies have become increasingly common due to Russian banks’ exclusion from the SWIFT payment system. In December 2024, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov revealed that Russian companies had started using Bitcoin and other digital assets in international payments.
