WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States, Germany and Finland have taken down the online infrastructure used by the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday, adding that two administrators of the exchange were also charged.
The two administrators, Aleksej Besciokov and Aleksandr Mira Serda, are both charged with money laundering conspiracy. Besciokov, a Russian resident and Lithuanian national, faces additional charges of violating sanctions and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, the department said.
The exchange has processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since April 2019, the department said.
“The U.S. Secret Service has seized website domains associated with the administration and operation of Russian cryptocurrency exchange, Garantex as part of an ongoing investigation,” Nate Herring, lead public affairs specialist at the U.S. Secret Service, said in an emailed statement on Friday, providing no additional comment.
Garantex was sanctioned by the U.S. in April 2022. The exchange on Thursday said the stablecoin Tether had blocked digital wallets on its platform, forcing it to suspend operations days after coming under EU sanctions.
The cryptocurrency industry elite are set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday to discuss how the U.S. government will enact Trump’s vision of making the country the “crypto capital of the world.”
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve, White House crypto czar David Sacks said. The reserve will be capitalized with bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, Sacks said.
Also on Friday, Trump said he was “strongly considering” imposing sweeping sanctions, including ones on banking, and tariffs on Russia until a ceasefire and peace agreement is reached with Ukraine.
Trump’s threat comes days after Reuters reported that the White House was drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as part of the administration’s push to end the war and improve diplomatic and economic relations with Moscow.
Trump has paused military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine to pressure Kyiv to accept a ceasefire deal after an explosive Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a week ago.
Trump has faced criticism for doubling down on Ukraine, including his comment last month that Kyiv, not Russia, was responsible for starting the war.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Blockchain research company TRM Labs said in a blog post that the takedown of Garantex “marks a major milestone in the fight against illicit finance” but cautioned that sanctioned exchanges often attempt to evade restrictions by creating new entities.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones, Susan Heavey, Elizabeth Howcroft and David Brunnstrom; writing by Bo Erickson and David Brunnstrom: Editing by Caitlin Webber, Deepa Babington and Nia Williams)
