"Money Laundering 2.0": Grinex takes over from the blocked Garantex

After the Garantex website was taken down and its wallets were frozen, the sanctioned exchange provides access to crypto services through an alternative platform, Grinex. By mid-March, it has already received over $29 million. 

The Global Ledger team found the on-chain and off-chain data to prove that Grinex is, in fact, Garantex’s full-fedged successor. This research provides evidence that Garantex has moved its assets to Grinex to continue operating. 

Key Highlights: 

●      Garantex has moved its liquidity to Grinex. 

●      Garantex is covering its tracks. 

●      Users’ balances are being transferred from Garantex to Grinex. 

●      Grinex promos state that Garantex founders created it in response to sanctions and frozen funds. 

●      The UI of the Grinex website resembles that of Garantex.

Grinex – Full-Fledged Successor Continues Garantex’s Dirty Business After the Exchange’s Shutdown 

March 13, 2025 – Swiss blockchain analytics company Global Ledger has completed its investigation and gathered conclusive evidence that Grinex, the exchange that emerged shortly after the dramatic collapse of Garantex, is, in fact, a direct continuation of Garantex itself. This revelation underscores that the crypto industry still has work to do. 

The data below presents compelling on-chain evidence alongside several undeniable facts that strongly indicate Grinex’s deep-rooted connection to Garantex. 

Ruble stablecoin being listed on Grinex after Garantex’s collapse 

On Feb 8, 2025, Kyrgyz company Old Vector launched the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5 (A7A5 ru) for Promsvyazbank’s cross-border payment platform A7. Issued under Kyrgyzstan’s new crypto regulations and backed by the national government, A7A5 was listed on Garantex, along with a lesser-known exchange called BiFinance. 

On March 6, 2025, Garantex was shut down. 

Less than a week later, on March 11, in the comments under a post in the offcial A7A5 RU Telegram channel (A7A5 ru), the stablecoin’s creators confrmed that the token is now available on Grinex. They avoid directly answering what’s going on with Garantex, stating that the tokens aren’t blocked and the issue lies with the exchange itself. 

On-Chain Evidence of A7A5 Liquidity Transfer from Blocked Garantex Wallets to Grinex with a Timeline 

●    For nearly a month, between February 8 and March 1, 2025, Garantex began accumulating the stablecoin A7A5 in its wallet TFwjPScaJRCbSWVAywE1S1WgaUgSnyYUbD, transferring 10,000,000 A7A5, 768,018,744 A7A5 and 1,000,000,000 A7A5 

●    On March 4, 2025, Garantex operational wallets were blocked by Tether, so it withdrew all stablecoins A7A5 from blocked wallets to the same accumulation wallet TFwjPScaJRCbSWVAywE1S1WgaUgSnyYUbD in transactions 441,416 A7A5, 187,926 A7A5, 228,898 A7A5 and 2,500,523,873 A7A5 

●    On March 5, 2025, Garantex withdrew 4,513,572,208 A7A5 from the accumulation wallet TFwjPScaJRCbSWVAywE1S1WgaUgSnyYUbD and carried out further transfers through a chain of one- time-use wallets. The funds were then settled in wallet TJkBr9TZ1xBeJoF7RNWqyEMbYqVJ6fXXHR on March 10, 2025. 

●    The same day, on March 10, wallet TJkBr9TZ1xBeJoF7RNWqyEMbYqVJ6fXXHR sent all received funds to contract TML1DbrPXYDDwatGxw66iEwECnXCG54uJy as 5,021,866,279 A7A5 and 100 A7A5. This contract executed burning transactions of 5,021,866,279 A7A5 and 100 A7A5 to burn stablecoins via system address. In 10 minutes, the funds were reminted in transaction 4,486,621,335 A7A5 and sent to wallet TNDjh6WGLYyWmkh8vfu42bXVHUqFNQ3rDq. In this case, the burning and subsequent minting process was used to launder funds from Garantex, allowing new coins to be minted from a system address with a clean history. 

●    This wallet TNDjh6WGLYyWmkh8vfu42bXVHUqFNQ3rDq transferred funds through multiple one-time-use wallets to the Grinex deposit wallet TGckaiamj5NzaYx6Qp6Zu7kahuHArzUo99 as 4,486,621,235 A7A5. 

This chain of transactions represents the full transfer of A7A5 liquidity from Garantex’s blocked wallets to Grinex 

As of March 14, 2025, the Volume of Incoming Transactions on Grinex Surpasses $29M

Some Additional Findings 

1. Wallet TJkBr9TZ1xBeJoF7RNWqyEMbYqVJ6fXXHR received 86 TRX from one of the top CEXs to use as transaction gas. Wallet TNDjh6WGLYyWmkh8vfu42bXVHUqFNQ3rDq also received 423 TRX from the same CEX for transaction gas. For the identifed Grinex hot wallet TL1k1U6SHohxBqb68kCodxHc9y2LXoDSep, the frst received transaction in TRX stands out. This 5,000 TRX transaction was sent from a prominent Asian crypto exchange, frequently used by Garantex for withdrawals and liquidity provision. 

2. One of Grinex’s managers confrmed in a private conversation with Global Ledger that customers are currently visiting the Garantex offce in person. He also noted that clients are moving funds from Garantex to Grinex. 

3. Aside from undeniable on-chain data, there are some visible similarities between Garantex and Grinex’s interfaces: 

4. Coinmarketrating statement that Grinex was founded by Garantex founder 

5. Starting March 12, 2025, Garantex users are receiving their funds on Grinex. Some users confrm that funds previously blocked on Garantex are coming to their Grinex accounts.