Garantex
0.0/10 total
This service no longer exists. It is kept in the table so that outdated guides recommending it can be checked against reality. Treat any site currently using this name as hostile.
Seized on 6 March 2025, when the US Secret Service working with German and Finnish authorities took the web domains and froze around 26 million dollars, mostly Tether, with the issuer's cooperation. Neither garantex.org nor garantex.io resolves today. The reason this entry matters is the successor: Grinex, a Kyrgyzstan-registered platform incorporated in December 2024, months before the takedown, was promoted through Garantex-linked Telegram channels immediately afterwards and inherited the customer base, and OFAC designated Grinex along with Garantex's founder and co-owners on 14 August 2025. Grinex is live. Treating it as a neutral new exchange because the old brand is gone is exactly the mistake this entry exists to prevent.
Scores
Weights are published in the method and applied identically to every entry.
For
Nothing that still applies.
Against
- Domains seized 6 March 2025 by the US Secret Service with German and Finnish authorities; roughly 26 million dollars frozen.
- The operator was OFAC-designated, so US persons face sanctions exposure for dealings with it or its successor.
- Grinex, sanctioned on 14 August 2025 as the successor, is live and absorbed the user base, meaning the risk migrated rather than ended.
- Balances were fully custodial and subject to the freeze.
- The pre-planned successor structure, incorporated in December 2024, indicates the wind-down was designed to move users rather than return funds.
Agent access 0/10
No reachable endpoint. The successor platform is sanctioned and is not a substitute.
Reported separately and not counted in the total. It measures what an autonomous agent can do unattended, not whether the service is safe to use.
Fees
n/a
No longer quotable. Domains seized and the operator sanctioned.
Specification
- Type
- Custodial exchange
- KYC policy
- KYC required
- Custody model
- custodial
- Account required
- yes
- Assets
- n/a
- Chains
- n/a
- Operating since
- 2019
- Jurisdiction
- undisclosed
- Onion service
- no
- Works without JS
- no
- Open source
- no
- Facts checked
- 2026-07-31