Grinex may become the first regulated crypto exchange in Russia. What’s going on

Disclaimer: information from one anonymous source cannot be considered reliable. We sent a request to confirm the information to Grinex representatives, but have not yet received a response.

The first Russian-regulated crypto exchange, the creation of which was previously announced by the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance, may be implemented on the infrastructure of the sub-sanctioned Grinex-Garantex. This was reported to GetBlock AML Research by a source close to Grinex, who wished to remain anonymous. According to him, the Russian authorities and exchange representatives are discussing different options for the realization of a regulated trading platform.

One such scenario involves the creation of a new exchange using Grinex’s infrastructure (employees, personal connections, and software). In this case, Grinex itself will continue to operate in the gray zone. This scenario may be realized if Russia fails to reach an agreement with the United States on lifting economic sanctions shortly.

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Otherwise, an option with full legalization of Grinex and granting it the status of a regulated crypto exchange is being considered. This will only happen if international sanctions and charges of money laundering are lifted from the trading platform. According to the source, the issue has already been raised during bilateral talks between Russia and the US.

The source described the attitude of the Russian authorities to the issue of cryptocurrency regulation as uncertain and chaotic. According to him, there is still no unified consensus in government circles on many issues related to the legalization of digital assets and their integration into the country’s financial system. However, the general course of crypto regulation is moving towards full state control and de-anonymization of digital asset owners, the source explained.

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Grinex-Garantex co-founder Sergey Mendeleev was a speaker at the Blockchain Life forum, which took place in Moscow on April 23-24, 2025. In early 2021, Grinex-Garantex co-founder Stanislav Drugalev died under mysterious circumstances in Dubai. His car fell off a bridge at a road junction. UAE police have been unable to establish the order of events that led to Drugalev’s death. The whereabouts of the businessman’s personal belongings, including his digital devices, remain unknown.

In March, Alexey Beshchekov, the technical administrator of Grinex-Garantex, who was wrongly named by foreign media as the founder of the exchange, was detained in India at the request of the United States. Grinex-Garantex commercial director Alexander Mira Serda, currently residing in the UAE, was charged with conspiracy to launder illegally obtained funds.

The digital ruble is no longer needed

In March, after the US authorities seized nearly $23 million USDT from Garantex, the exchange rebranded (changed its name to Grinex) and switched to using the ruble-denominated A7A5 stablecoin for internal settlements. The A7A5 stablecoin was issued by Kyrgyz company Old Vector for the cross-border payment platform of Promsvyazbank (100% of Promsvyazbank is owned by the Federal Agency for State Property Management, Rosimushchestvo).

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Reinvented bank checks

Earlier, Grinex-Garantex realized the possibility of selling and buying cryptocurrency using so-called “ruble codes”. Exchange customers can create codes with a blocked amount in rubles, and then transfer (resell) this code to another user. The buyer can redeem the code on the exchange, receive rubles, and convert them into any cryptocurrency that Grinex-Garantex supports.