Grinex Suspends Operations Following Alleged Hack by 'Western Special Services'

Grinex, a sanctioned crypto asset exchange with strong ties to Russia, has halted operations following a 'large-scale cyberattack'. The attack is believed to have resulted in the theft of over $13 million from user accounts. According to the exchange's statement, the breach was carried out by 'special services' of 'unfriendly states', which compromised the exchange's infrastructure.

The hack has significant implications for Russia's financial sovereignty, as Grinex is one of the largest exchanges for exchanging Russian rubles for cryptoassets. The exchange claims that the attack was part of a broader campaign to restrict cryptocurrency withdrawals outside the region and cause direct damage to Russia's domestic financial sovereignty.

Grinex emerged as the successor to Garantex, a notorious Russian exchange sanctioned by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars linked to ransomware, darknet markets, and state-sponsored hacking groups. The exchange is also the primary platform for trading A7A5, a ruble-backed stablecoin used in Russian sanctions evasion.

On-chain analysis suggests that the stolen funds were laundered on the TRON or Ethereum blockchains, with outgoing transactions totaling approximately $15 million in USDT being sent to further accounts. The thief avoided freezing of the stolen USDT by converting it to another asset, either TRX or ETH.