Stablecoin operator Tether has frozen $27 million in USDt on the sanctioned Russian Garantex crypto exchange, forcing the platform to halt operations.
“Tether has entered the war against the Russian crypto market and blocked our wallets worth more than 2.5 billion rubles [$27 million],” Garantex wrote on its official announcement channel on Telegram on March 6.
The exchange said it has temporarily suspended all services, including withdrawals, with its website currently under maintenance.
The news comes shortly after the European Union sanctioned Garantex as part of the 16th package of sanctions on “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine” on Feb. 26.
“All USDT in Russian wallets is currently under threat”
While announcing the news, Garantex warned its users that “all USDT in Russian wallets is currently under threat.”
“We will fight, and we will not give up,” it added in the announcement.
Source: Telegram
The EU’s sanctions on Garantex came three years after the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“For the first time, the Council also decided to sanction a cryptocurrency exchange based in Russia, Garantex, which is closely associated with EU-sanctioned Russian banks,” the EU stated.
Regulators in the United States were the first to announce sanctions against Garantex, with the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposing the sanctions on Garantex in April 2022.
Cointelegraph reached out to Tether regarding its decision to freeze Garantex wallets but did not receive a response by publication time.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
