Tether Freezes $28M USDT on Russian Crypto Exchange Garantex

"Tether has entered the war against the Russian crypto market and blocked our wallets worth over 2.5 billion rubles," Garantex said.

Updated Mar 6, 2025, 1:19 p.m. UTCPublished Mar 6, 2025, 12:12 p.m. UTC

Stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen $28 million worth of USDT on Russian crypto exchange Garantex.

Garantex, which has been sanctioned by the European Union for links to the Russian government and criminal organizations, has suspended all its services temporarily, the exchange announced on Telegram on Thursday.

"Tether has entered

the war against the Russian crypto market and blocked our wallets worth over 2.5 billion rubles," Garantex said.

"Please note that all USDT held in Russian wallets is now under threat. As always, we are the first, but not the last," it added.

Jamie Crawley

Jamie has been part of CoinDesk's news team since February 2021, focusing on breaking news, Bitcoin tech and protocols and crypto VC. He holds BTC, ETH and DOGE.