Stablecoin operator Tether has frozen $ 27 million in USDT in the Russian Garatex crypto exchange, forcing the platform to stop operations.
“Tether entered the war against the Russian crypto market and blocked our purse worth more than 2.5 billion rubles ($ 27 million),” Garantex write on the official channel of its announcement on Telegram on March 6.
The exchange said all services were temporarily suspended, including backwards, with its website currently under maintenance.
The news came shortly after the European Union Punish Garantex as part of the 16th package of penalties in the “August War of Russia against Ukraine” in February. 26.
“All USDT in Russian Wallets is currently a threat”
While announcing the news, Garantex warned its users that “all USDT in Russian wallets are currently threats.”
“We will fight, and we will not give up,” it added in the announcement.
Source: Telegram
EU penalties in Garantex came three years after the start of the Russia-Ukraine rivalry.
“For the first time, the council also decided to punish a Russian-based cryptocurrency exchange, which is closely related to Russian banks,” the EU said.
Regulators in the United States were the first to announce sanctions against Garantex, with the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposing penalties on Garantex In April 2022.
The cointelegraph reached out to Tether about its decision to freeze Garantex purses but did not receive a response such as publication time.
This is a story development, and further information will be added as it is available.
