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A global law enforcement action led by the United States Secret Service has the Garantex crypto exchange shut down.
The United States Secret Service has seized the domain of a Russian cryptocurrency exchange over its links to ransomware gangs that allegedly used the exchange to launder ransom payments..
The seizure of Garantex was part of a law enforcement operation assisted by the DoJ, FBI, and agencies in the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, and Estonia.
“The domain for Garantex has been seized by the United States Secret Service pursuant to a seizure warrant obtained by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia under the authority of 18 U.S.C §§ 981 and 982,” a seizure notice reads on the Garantex website.
A spokesperson for the USSS told The Register the seizure was part of an ongoing investigation.
"The US Secret Service has seized website domains associated with the administration and operation of Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex as part of an ongoing investigation," the spokesperson said.
"We are unable to provide additional comments at this time and will release additional information when available."
The admins of Garantex broke the news to their customers in a post on Telegram.
“Tether has entered the war against the Russian crypto market and blocked our wallets for more than 2.5 billion rubles,” the admins said in a post in Russian.
“We temporarily suspend all services, including cryptocurrency withdrawals, for the time being while we solve this problem with the whole team.
“Please note that all USDT on Russian wallets is now under threat.”
Garantex was sanctioned by the US in 2022 and by the EU in February 2025.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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