Russian crypto exchange Garantex has warned its users that “all USDT in Russian wallets is currently under threat” after stablecoin giant Tether froze $27 million worth of USDT on the platform.
Garantex has also suspended all operations, and its website is down for “technical work.”
The platform announced the action by Tether in a Telegram post on Thursday. “Tether has entered the war against the Russian crypto market and blocked our wallets worth more than 2.5 billion rubles ($27 million),” it wrote.
It also assured users that “We will fight, and we will not give up.”
Garantex was sanctioned by the European Union (EU) in February as it stepped up its efforts to bring an end to what it called “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
According to the EU, Garantex was “closely associated with EU-sanctioned Russian banks.”
Read more: Russian founder of sanctioned exchange Garantex starts Tether desk
“For the first time, the Council also decided to sanction a cryptocurrency exchange based in Russia, Garantex, which is closely associated with EU-sanctioned Russian banks,” the EU stated in its announcement.
The Russian exchange is also already sanctioned by regulators in the United States. The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took steps against the platform in April 2022.
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Source: https://protos.com/garantex-says-usdt-in-russian-wallets-under-threat-as-tether-freezes-27m/