JAPAN ADDS GARANTEX TO ITS RUSSIA ASSET-FREEZE LIST — THE ONLY CRYPTO EXCHANGE AMONG 33 NEW NAMES — GRINEX, WHERE TREASURY SAYS ITS CUSTOMERS WENT, ISN’T ONE OF THEM

Japan added Garantex to its Russia asset-freeze list on October 2, 2026. The Finance Ministry's notice lists it as Garantex Europe OU, entry 402, with addresses in St. Petersburg and Moscow. It is the only crypto exchange among the 33 organizations added that day.

The U.S. moved years earlier. Treasury sanctioned Garantex on April 5, 2022. On March 6, 2025, the Secret Service, working with German and Finnish police, disrupted its computer systems. In August 2025, Treasury said Garantex then moved its customers and funds to a successor exchange, Grinex.

Grinex is not among the names Japan added. A freeze list names a company. Treasury says Garantex staff simply built another one.

The custody lesson sits in Treasury's own account. Customers who lost their funds in the takedown got back into their accounts through Grinex, using A7A5, a ruble-backed token. Coins left on an exchange go wherever the exchange goes. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $85,243.