Grinex Crypto Exchange Shuts Down After ₱778.57 million ($13 million) Hack
Grinex shut down after hackers stole ₱778.57 million ($13 million) in a cyberattack the exchange blamed on foreign intelligence services. The platform had emerged as the successor to Garantex and was used by Russian businesses locked out of global financial systems to convert rubles into usable international currency.
Key Takeaway
Russia's main sanctions-evasion crypto channel is now offline, tightening Western financial pressure.
Hackers stole ₱778.57 million ($13 million) from Grinex before the Russian crypto exchange announced its shutdown via Telegram on Wednesday.
The exchange blamed the attack on foreign intelligence services, citing an unprecedented level of resources and technology available exclusively to agencies of hostile states. Grinex had emerged as the successor to Garantex after Western authorities sanctioned the predecessor exchange in August 2025.
CryptoCare CEO Nick Harris said the pressure on the Russian economy from sanctions just got harder to escape. He added that Grinex going dark presents serious damage to Russian financial infrastructure, not just because of the hack itself, but because it removes the exchange Russian businesses relied on to convert rubles into usable international currency. TokenSpot, a Kyrgyzstan-based exchange with on-chain ties to Grinex, was hit in the same cyberattack, with two of its addresses sending funds to the attacker's consolidation wallet.
The timing compounds existing economic stress. Putin revealed Russia's GDP dropped 1.8% in January and February 2026. Swedish military intelligence chief Thomas Nilsson said the Russian economy can only enter one of two scenarios: long-term decline or shock, adding that either way, the country will continue on a downslope to financial disaster.
US Treasury, European, and British authorities sanctioned both Grinex and Old Vector, the company issuing the A7A5 stablecoin, in August 2025. Garantex wallets had shifted funds weeks before those enforcement actions, indicating premeditated transition planning to Grinex. The network involving Grinex and related entities has processed hundreds of billions in transactions tied to Russian state-adjacent activity, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which documented the platform as part of a shadow crypto economy designed to evade Western financial restrictions. Grinex began successor operations in January 2025, converting Garantex customer balances into A7A5 credits.
This article was written based on reporting from Dlnews.
