Russian crypto trading platform Grinex ceases operations

On April 21, Grinex, Russia's main crypto trading platform, stopped operations last Wednesday due to suspected major cyber attacks, reportedly losing more than 1 billion rubles (approximately US$13 million). The platform claimed on Telegram that the attack had "signs of involvement by foreign intelligence agencies." Grinex is the successor to the previously sanctioned and closed Garantex trading platform, providing a financial channel for the Russian economy to circumvent sanctions. In 2025, it handled nearly US$100 billion in transaction volume for the sanctioned stablecoin A7A5. Experts pointed out that Grinex was shut down not only because of the hacking itself, but more importantly, because it removed the trading platform on which Russian companies relied to convert rubles into usable international currencies, causing "serious damage" to Russia's infrastructure to evade sanctions and making sanctions more difficult to escape. Pressure on the Russian economy is more difficult to escape. The trading platform was sanctioned by Western authorities such as the United States, Britain, and the European Union in August 2025. At the same time, Russia's economy continues to weaken. Putin revealed that GDP fell by 1.8% from January to February this year, and seaborne oil exports may fall to their lowest level since 2023.