Elliptic assists US Secret Service in takedown of sanctioned Russian crypto exchange Garantex
Including freezing assets
Elliptic, a global leader in blockchain analytics, played a key role in assisting the United States Secret Service with its investigation into Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange sanctioned by the US Treasury and the European Union.
The firm’s cutting-edge data and intelligence have helped capture Garantex and freeze its assets. Garantex, which had been using sophisticated cloaking techniques to obscure its cryptocurrency wallet infrastructure, sought to evade the sanctions placed upon it. These measures included complex methods to disguise transactions and confuse tracking efforts.
To combat this, Elliptic leveraged its industry-leading blockchain analytics tools to trace and uncover the rogue exchange’s activities. By conducting detailed analysis and developing new heuristics, Elliptic could flag Garantex’s wallets and expose the full extent of its operation.
According to Elliptic’s data, Garantex has been involved in over $60 billion of transactions since the US Treasury and the European Union imposed sanctions on the exchange in April 2022.
The exchange was found to be complicit in laundering cryptocurrency connected to a variety of illicit activities, including ransomware attacks, darknet markets, and high-profile North Korean crypto heists. Garantex has also been implicated in moving funds for Russian elites, many of whom are themselves under US and EU sanctions.
Elliptic’s ongoing work to track Garantex’s evolving sanctions-evasion tactics has been vital. A spokesperson for Elliptic explained: “We have been working for nearly two years to unravel Garantex’s tactics as they continuously adapted to evade detection.
“This work has directly fed into our real-time screening solutions, which protect Elliptic’s customers and help law enforcement authorities, including the [US] Secret Service, in their investigations.”
The spokesperson continued: “The recent $1.5 billion Bybit theft highlights the critical role that rogue crypto exchanges play in laundering the proceeds of crime and facilitating nefarious activities by unscrupulous regimes. Today’s events show that these bad actors can be tracked and held accountable.”
Elliptic’s blockchain analytics platform offers critical insights that have helped uncover illicit financial flows, revealing how Garantex had been laundering vast sums of money. The company’s solutions assist financial institutions, regulators, and law enforcement agencies worldwide by identifying and blocking suspicious transactions.
The takedown of Garantex is a significant victory in the ongoing battle against illicit cryptocurrency activities. The frozen assets, which include funds associated with ransomware and other criminal enterprises, represent a substantial step towards curbing the influence of rogue exchanges in the global crypto landscape.
As investigations continue, Elliptic’s role in disrupting the operations of crypto exchanges linked to criminal activity underscores the importance of advanced blockchain analytics in maintaining financial security. The company’s commitment to exposing and preventing sanctions evasion is crucial in upholding the integrity of the global economic system.
Hero image: Garantex was found to be complicit in laundering cryptocurrency connected to various illicit activities. Credit: Mikhail Nilov
