Japan Freezes Bitcoin (BTC) Exchange Garantex in Sanctions on 33 Russian Entities

Tokyo Puts Garantex on the Freeze List

Japan's government added Garantex Europe OU, the entity operating the Russian crypto exchange Garantex, to its asset-freeze list for the Ukraine conflict on Friday, October 2. The package, issued under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA) by the foreign, finance and trade ministries, covers 33 organizations and 9 individuals, and the Foreign Ministry's announcement names the exchange's operating entity as the only crypto company among the 33. From the effective date, payments to designated parties require a license, and so do capital transactions such as deposit, trust and loan contracts. Crypto asset transfers fall under the same controls: Japanese crypto exchange service providers must confirm in advance that a transfer is not connected to a sanctioned party before processing it. Garantex, established in 2019, built its spot trading business around Moscow and St. Petersburg and became a leading venue for converting rubles into Bitcoin (BTC), giving the designation direct relevance to Russian on-ramps. Tokyo framed the step as keeping pace with measures already taken by other major economies. Bitcoin price showed no material reaction to the news.

From 2022 Designation to Domain Seizure

The designation closes a circle that began in Washington. The US Treasury's OFAC sanctioned Garantex in April 2022, reporting that more than $100 million of its transactions involved criminal actors and darknet markets, much of it moved in whale-sized transfers that stayed out of reach of Western compliance tools. Enforcement then escalated: on March 6, 2025, US authorities working with German and Finnish law enforcement seized the domains used to run the exchange and froze more than $26 million, about 4.1 billion yen, knocking its order book offline. A day later, US prosecutors indicted operators Aleksandr Mira Serda and Aleksey Beshukov on money laundering conspiracy charges and said the exchange had processed at least $96 billion in crypto transactions since April 2019, including dealings with US entities after the 2022 designation. After the takedown, much of the customer base and a portion of the funds moved to the successor platform Grinex, with the ruble-backed digital asset A7A5 used to migrate users. OFAC extended sanctions to Grinex, six related companies and three Garantex executives on August 14, 2025. Japan's October 2 list names Garantex but leaves Grinex out.

Shadow Fleet, A7A5 and the 96% Drop

The exchange is not the only target in the package. Japan imposed service-trade restrictions on 35 vessels tied to Russia's so-called shadow fleet, making ship repairs, insurance and other maritime services license-controlled, and requiring approval for loan and guarantee contracts connected to vessel sales and charters. The ship-related rules took effect October 2, with performance of contracts signed earlier exempt until November 1. Export bans now cover four entities in third countries, one in Turkey and three in the United Arab Emirates, extending the measures beyond Russia's borders, alongside a prohibition on exports of goods that strengthen Russia's industrial base. The crypto angle extends to A7A5 as well: on-chain analytics showed the ruble-backed token, launched in January 2025, had handled more than $100 billion, roughly 16 trillion yen, in transactions within its first year, though sanctions pressure cut its average daily volume to $24.3 million, about 3.8 billion yen, by June 2026, a 96% decline from the July 2025 peak. Grinex itself suspended operations in April 2025 after a cyberattack it blamed on a hostile state, claiming more than 1.9 billion yen in user funds was stolen.

The Grinex Gap Ahead

Read together, the strands show Western governments converging on the payment rails behind sanctions evasion rather than the assets themselves. The official notice we reviewed states that the FEFTA controls took effect on October 2, bind Japanese crypto exchange service providers to pre-screen transfers against the designated list, and grant transition relief until November 1 for contracts signed before that date; these are final measures, not proposals. The gap to watch is the successor network: Japan has frozen Garantex while Grinex and A7A5, sanctioned by the US Treasury since August 2025, remain off Tokyo's list, making additional designations the likely next step.