A prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Grinex, which catered to Russian users seeking to circumvent sanctions, has suspended its operations after disclosing a massive cyber attack that resulted in the theft of approximately 1 billion rubles, equivalent to $13 million. The exchange, headquartered in Kyrgyzstan, announced the breach via its Telegram channel and an official statement on its website, suggesting that the attack's sophistication and coordination imply the involvement of state-sponsored entities from 'hostile nations.' According to Grinex, preliminary findings indicate that the attack was orchestrated to deliberately undermine Russia's financial autonomy. The exchange had previously been sanctioned by the US, UK, and EU for allegedly assisting users in evading restrictions through a ruble-backed stablecoin called A7A5.
This token enabled cross-border transactions after Russia's access to the Swift inter-bank messaging system was suspended following its invasion of Ukraine. After being shut down, the platform re-emerged as Grinex.
The temporary halt in trading has left users without access to their funds as the company conducts an investigation. Moreover, access to Grinex's Moscow office has been restricted. The exchange has released a list of 54 affected wallet addresses and the corresponding amounts that were drained, with most of the stolen funds being in the form of USDT on the TRON blockchain.