Japan freezes Garantex assets in sanctions round adding 33 Russian entities

Japan on October 2 added Garantex, the Moscow-based cryptocurrency exchange, to its asset-freeze list targeting entities and individuals supporting Russia's war in Ukraine, Crypto Briefing reported. The designation is part of a package covering 33 entities and nine individuals, and it restricts payments and capital transactions between Japanese residents and the sanctioned parties.

What changed

• Designating agency: Japan's Ministry of Finance, acting under its Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act framework.
• Entities named: 33 total, including Garantex.
• Individuals named: nine.
• Effective date: October 2, 2026.
• Immediate effect: Any Garantex-held assets touching Japan-regulated counterparties are frozen; any payment or capital transaction between a Japanese entity and a listed party is prohibited absent a specific license.

Cointelegraph confirmed the Garantex designation and framed it as the first time Tokyo has placed a cryptocurrency exchange on this specific list.

Why Garantex

Garantex has been the main US-sanctioned Russian crypto exchange since OFAC first designated it in April 2022. FinCEN amplified the designation and the US Department of Justice said in its March 2025 enforcement action that Garantex had moved at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since April 2019. The EU added Garantex to its sanctions framework in February 2024. Tether blocked $27M in USDT on Garantex-labeled addresses in March 2025, effectively collapsing the exchange's operational tempo for months. Japan's addition, 18 months after the US and EU moves, closes one of the remaining G7 gaps.

What it changes for Japanese firms

• Regulated exchanges (SBI VC Trade, bitFlyer, Rakuten Wallet) must screen counterparties and transactions against the designation and block any flow tied to Garantex-labeled addresses.
• Payment service providers licensed by the FSA face the same screening obligation on any token-adjacent flow.
• Cross-border users of Russian exchanges from Japan are prohibited from any new capital transaction with Garantex-connected entities.

The practical on-chain impact is modest: Garantex has been largely paralyzed since the 2025 Tether freeze and OFAC's secondary-sanctions pressure. The designation closes the Japanese residual channel and signals coordination with FATF guidance on virtual-asset service providers that have been formally sanctioned by partner jurisdictions.

What to watch

1. Whether Japan publishes a specific wallet-address list (the EU and OFAC designations include indicative addresses; Japan's prior crypto-related designations have been entity-only).
2. Whether other FSA-licensed exchanges disclose any flow volumes between Japan-regulated wallets and Garantex-labeled addresses from prior quarters.
3. Whether South Korea, which has not yet added Garantex to its own list, moves next.
4. Any Russian response — Garantex successor or shell operations have surfaced after each major sanctions round since 2022.

Pattern

Garantex is the fifth or sixth time in two years a G7 or EU member has moved against a specific Russian crypto exchange, following US OFAC (April 2022), FinCEN cross-designation, DOJ indictment (March 2025), the EU (February 2024), the UK (2024), and now Japan. Each round compounds the previous: Tether and Circle screening already deny the main stablecoin rails to Garantex-tagged addresses, and OFAC's secondary-sanctions reach pressures non-US counterparties regardless of their home-jurisdiction rules.