The exchange’s sanctioned founder rejected American accusations because they “don’t understand” Russia’s crypto market.
Authorities in the U.S. are offering $6 million in rewards for the capture of key figures behind Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex.
The announcement follows the sanctioning of one of the founders of the coin trading platform, allegedly used by Russian actors to move money, bypass sanctions and commit crime.
Washington targets Russian crypto exchange Garantex
The United States is increasing pressure on the people who launched and ran Russian digital asset exchange Garantex, shut down in a U.S.-led law enforcement effort earlier this year.
The Departments of State and the Treasury have now put bounties on the exchange’s executives, according to an announcement issued on Thursday, after the U.S. placed its co-founder, Sergey Mendeleev, under sanctions.
The State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP), which backs efforts to disrupt global crime, is now offering $6 million for information leading to the arrests and convictions of Garantex leaders.
The total includes up to $5 million for the capture of its sales manager, Aleksandr Mira Serda, a Russian national also known as “Aleksandr Ntifo-Siaw,” and up to $1 million for other key leaders of the exchange, the government institutions detailed, stating:
“Today, the Departments of State and the Treasury are targeting Garantex, a Russian-operated cryptocurrency exchange allegedly used by a wide variety of cybercriminals and cybercrime organizations for money laundering, and its network.”
The authorities reminded that, according to the U.S. Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Garantex received hundreds of millions in criminal proceeds.
The money was used to facilitate various crimes, including hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking, often resulting in “substantial harm for U.S. victims.” The press release highlighted:
“Between April 2019 and March 2025, Garantex processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions.”
U.S. tightens noose on operators of Russian crypto exchange
Garantex was co-founded by Aleksandr Mira Serda, Sergey Mendeleev, and Stanislav Drugalev in 2019 and was active until the Secret Service and the FBI, together with Europol, seized its website in March 2025, froze $26 million worth of Tether (USDT) in wallets linked to the platform and charged its administrators with money laundering.
The bounties were announced after the Treasury Department’s U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Mendeleev to its sanctions list.
The Russian entrepreneur described his sanctioning as “absolutely logical” from the point of view of “Americans who, of course, don’t understand the realities of our crypto market.”
Speaking to leading Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media, Mendeleev insisted he hasn’t had anything to do with Garantex for the past five years, calling it “no more than a line in my biography.” He was also quoted as stating:
“I understand when the Wall Street Journal prints some fiction about my participation in financing Hamas, whom I call terrorists in every interview, or talks about how I help bomb Ukraine, which is especially amusing for those who know me. But OFAC seems to be a serious organization, it’s the Trump administration.”
OFAC targeted a number of Russian entities and other individuals accused of helping with sanctions evasion. Among them are A7, the company that launched the Ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5, Exved, a cross-border payment service, and Indefi Smartbank, which provided technical support to Exved.
Grinex, which is believed to have succeeded the now-defunct Garantex, was also sanctioned, as well as Old Vector, the firm that issues A7A5. Both are registered in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Mendeleev made it clear he is not managing Grinex and said he heard some of the other names for the first time, adding that Indefi and Exved “have nothing but websites.” He also remarked he had prepared for all this in advance, claiming the sanctions would have no effect on his activities.
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