According to an on-chain analysis by blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs, the Russian replacement Garantex with shutters has been rebranded as Grinex.
Garantex processed more than $100 billion in transactions before it was demolished by international executives in March this year.
However, analysis from the UK-based TRM Lab suggests that Grinex is redistributing assets in the form of A7A5, a Stablecoin of Ruble pages that can be used on Tron and Ethereum.
Garantex wallet addresses began converting funds to A7A5 Stablecoin in January 2025. Kyrgyz’s records show that the company behind the old Vector behind the token was registered on December 13, 2024.
TRM Labs recognizes that authorized exchanges are at risk of being closed, suggesting that the creation of the A7A5 will avoid sanctions and allow users to recover assets that could be lost in the event of a takedown.
Chain analysis revealed that a massive transfer involving the A7A5 took place in January, in the weeks leading up to US-led enforcement action that dismantled Garantex.
Needless to say, TRM cites how Garantex’s telegram channel began to promote Grinex. It is advertised just a few days after Grinex was removed as a new exchange was registered on Kyrgyzstan on December 23, 2024.
The individuals involved in registering Grinex and A7A5 are clearly unknown, and there is no obvious or formal link to Garantex.
It appears that Grinex was registered by Duulat-Eldar Sagynbeki Subankulov.
On the other hand, the old vectors were registered by the completely unknown Tatyana Sergeevna Menshikova.
However, in the case of the TRM Lab, the ambiguity of these two individuals adds “another layer of ambiguity to the origin of Grinex.”
One thing known is that the Grinex user interface has a “impressive similarity to Garantex”. Meanwhile, the platform has actually announced an agreement with a licensed exchange to mount previous customers and hire employees.
TRM Lab said it is detailing the link between the two platforms Decryption “Garantex has a unique on-chain fingerprint, and Grinex uses this same fingerprint.”
Of particular importance is the fact that the intermediate address “related to the transfer of funds from Garantex” was used to deposit funds (mainly A7A) into the Grinex client address.
In addition to this, TRM Labs also spoke about it. Decryption Garantex co-founder Sergey Mendeleev was “famous in Grinex’s announcement” posted on Telegram.
And it’s not just TRM Labs that believes Grinex is effectively Garantex 2.0, but chain dialysis is also tilting in this direction.
“The chain analysis has been monitoring suspect links between Grinex and Garantex, and while we are not yet ready to make formal attribution, we have seen signs that Grinex is likely a Garantex brand.” Decryption.
Fierman explains that Chainalysis received “multiple reports” of former Garantex users who visited Exchange’s Office, where they were able to transfer funds directly to Grinex.
“There was also a telegram post from Garantex co-founder (Sergei Mendeleev) talking about the launch of Grinex and honing the platform’s similarities with laughter emojis,” he added.
At its peak, Garantex accounted for 82% of all cryptocurrency volumes associated with internationally-authorized entities, but was able to process 70% of such volumes even after it was approved by OFAC in April 2022.
And for Fearman, its obvious rebirth is as Grinex raises serious questions about whether sanctions and shutdowns are 100% effective at halting illegal cryptocurrency activities.
“The broader issue here is that rebranding has become a familiar tactic for authorized crypto entities. This is an issue we are closely monitoring,” he said.
This issue has also been highlighted by other TRM Labs analyses. TRMLabs has found that two other Russian-related exchanges (in addition to Grinex) have acquired previous volumes of Garantex in recent months.
One of these is abcex, tied to Sergey Mendelov, is Galantex’s third largest on-chain counterparty, and the other is the “risk exchange” Lapira.
Both of these platforms witnessed a surge in volumes in March when Garantex was removed, and Rapira continued to grow while Abcex fell in April.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.