Urgent Update: Russian Digital Currency Platform Garantex Shuts Down Functions as Tether Blocks $28 Million in USDT! Toncoin (TON) Value Forecast for March 26th
The penalized digital currency platform, Garantex, has stopped its functions soon after Tether blocked a huge 2.5 billion rubles worth of USDT.
In a remarkable series of events, Garantex, one of Russia’s biggest and most debated digital currency platforms, revealed it was briefly stopping all functions after Tether, the provider of USDT, blocked a significant quantity of their assets.
“Valued clients, we have some unfortunate information,” Garantex stated in a Telegram declaration on March 6. “Tether has basically proclaimed battle on the Russian digital currency market and has blocked our digital wallets holding over 2.5 billion rubles.” The platform mentioned it was “briefly stopping all functions, including digital currency withdrawals” while its group worked to fix the problem. “We are defending ourselves and will not surrender!” they pledged.
Garantex additionally cautioned Russian clients that “all USDT in Russian digital wallets are now in danger.” As of publish time, Tether has not released a formal declaration concerning the freeze. The stablecoin provider has encountered increasing examination over deals including Russian-connected organizations.
Garantex was initially penalized by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 for supposedly assisting prohibited deals. Regardless of the limitations, it continued to run, providing services to Russian clients through penalized Russian banks.
This closure follows the European Union’s current choice to include Garantex to its list of penalties, as part of a wider effort targeting monetary networks connected to Moscow.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) initially blacklisted Garantex in April 2022, mentioning its role in assisting deals connected TruBit Collaborates with Morpho to Introduce DeFi Unearned Revenue in Latin America prohibited stars and darknet markets, including funds connected to the Russian ransomware-as-a-service group Conti and the now-defunct Hydra Market.