Elliptic: Five Cryptocurrency Exchanges Helped Russia Evade Sanctions, Filling Gap Left by Garantex Shutdown

On February 22, 2025, blockchain analysis firm Elliptic reported that following the U.S. seizure of sanctioned Russian crypto exchange Garantex in March 2025, at least five Russia-linked cryptocurrency platforms have continued enabling funding flows to sanctioned entities—most of which remain unsanctioned. The report notes that only peer-to-peer (P2P) platform Bitpapa had previously been added to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list in March 2024. Elliptic found that roughly 9.7% of Bitpapa’s outgoing funds flowed to sanctioned entities, and the platform regularly changed wallet addresses to avoid detection. Unsanctioned exchange ABCeX operates out of Moscow’s Federation Tower (Garantex’s former base) and has processed at least $11 billion in crypto transactions, with significant financial ties to Garantex and Aifory Pro. Another platform, Exmo, claimed to leave the Russian market after the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict—but on-chain data reveals it still shares custody wallet infrastructure with Russian platform Exmo.me and has done over $19.5 million in direct transactions with sanctioned entities including Garantex, Grinex, and Chatex. Additionally, Rapira conducted more than $72 million in direct transactions with sanctioned platform Grinex; Aifory Pro offers cash-to-crypto services in Moscow, Dubai, and Turkey, and helps users circumvent Western service restrictions via USDT virtual cards. Elliptic emphasized that after Garantex was shut down, related sanctions evasion efforts did not vanish—they instead expanded to more platforms. A prior Chainalysis report noted that in 2025, crypto addresses linked to illicit activity received a total of $154 billion, with the Russian ruble-backed A7A5 stablecoin seeing transaction volume exceed $93.3 billion. TRM Labs estimates the annual scale of illicit crypto transactions is around $158 billion.