Garantex designation and rebrand (2022–2025)
The UK designated exchange Garantex in May 2022 for enabling illicit finance tied to Russia. Garantex kept operating through other jurisdictions, and by 2025 its infrastructure had effectively rebranded as Grinex, which the US designated in August 2025.
Garantex lost direct access to UK and US financial systems but continued operations through shell entities and front companies.
The rebrand became the template for the evasion pattern the 2026 UK package targets: designated exchanges relaunch as parallel services.
Today's designations treat TokenSpot as a front for Grinex, the same evasion structure that kept Garantex alive.
