Garantex, a Russia-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it has temporarily halted operations due to the blocking of cryptocurrency wallets.

In a written statement from Garantex, who is subject to sanctions by the European Union, it was reported that approximately $28 million worth of cryptocurrency wallets on the platform were blocked by Tether. The statement included comments stating that Tether has “declared war” on the Russian crypto market, and that all services, including cryptocurrency withdrawals, are temporarily suspended while they work to resolve the issue. The EU included Garantex in the 16th sanctions package in 2025 due to its close ties with Russian banks subject to sanctions.

On March 6, 2025, Garantex announced that Tether had blocked digital wallets on their platform, forcing them to halt operations. The use of digital assets and cryptocurrencies has been on the rise due to Russian banks being removed from the SWIFT payment system. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated in December 2024 that Russian companies had started using Bitcoin and other digital assets for international payments.