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Crypto hack goes political as Grinex blames ‘Western special services’

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Crypto hack goes political as Grinex blames 'Western special services'

Grinex, a sanctioned Kyrgyzstan-registered crypto exchange, has disclosed a hack of over one billion rubles.

In an announcement posted to the exchange’s official Telegram channel, the “targeted attack” was attributed to “Western special services,” and is aimed at “causing direct damage to Russia’s financial sovereignty.”

The loss sees Grinex “forced to suspend its operations.”

It says “attempts to destabilize the domestic financial sector have reached a new level – the direct theft of assets of Russian citizens and companies.”

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Blockchain forensics firm Elliptic analysed outflows from affected addresses listed by Grinex and tallied a total of $15 million of USDT. The funds were then swapped to TRX or ETH to avoid being frozen by Tether.

Read more: UK mirrors US sanctions against Russian crypto networks

Sanctions evasion

Grinex was sanctioned by the US, UK and EU between August and October last year. It was then suspected of facilitating up to $6 billion of sanctions evasion in the following months.

The US Treasury calls Grinex the “successor” to Garantex, another crypto exchange which “directly facilitated… over $100 million in transactions linked to illicit activities since 2019.”

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According to Elliptic, Grinex is also the main venue for trading of A7A5, used for “cross-border payment services to Russian businesses seeking to circumvent Western sanctions.”

A7A5, via Grinex, provides Russian businesses access to the “global liquidity of USDT without maintaining prolonged exposure to the risk of wallet freezing.”

The token topped over $100 billion of transactions by January, less than a year after being launched.

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Crypto World

Stablecoins Do Not Threaten Banking Just Yet: Analyst

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Stablecoins Do Not Threaten Banking Just Yet: Analyst

The impact of stablecoins on the banking sector appears “limited” at the current phase of the adoption cycle, but banks could face increasing competition and an erosion of market share as the stablecoin sector and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) grow in market capitalization. 

“So far, the use of stablecoins remains limited, but their market capitalization exceeded $300 billion at the end of last year,” Abhi Srivastava, associate vice president of Moody’s Investors Service Digital Economy Group, told Cointelegraph.

The stablecoin market cap has surged past $300 billion. Source: RWA.xyz

The role of stablecoins in payments, cross-border commerce and onchain finance is “expanding,” despite their currently limited role, Srivastava said, adding that existing payment systems in the US are already “fast, low-cost and trusted.” He said:

“For the banking sector, at this stage, disruption risk appears limited. In the near term, US rules that prohibit stablecoins from paying yield mean they are unlikely to replace traditional deposits at scale domestically.”

However, over time, growing adoption of stablecoins and tokenized RWAs, traditional or physical financial assets represented on a blockchain by a token, could place “pressure” on the banking sector, leading to deposit outflows and reduced lending capacity, he said.

Stablecoin regulatory policy has become a hot-button issue among crypto industry executives and those in the banking sector, with fears that yield-bearing stablecoins could erode banking market share proving to be a stumbling block for the CLARITY crypto market structure bill in Congress. 

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Related: Stablecoins behave like FX markets as liquidity splits: Eco CEO

CLARITY Act stalled, as banks fight yield-bearing stablecoins

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, also known as the CLARITY Act, is a comprehensive crypto market regulatory framework that establishes an asset taxonomy, regulatory jurisdiction and oversight over the crypto markets.

The CLARITY crypto market structure bill. Source: US Congress

It is now stalled in Congress after a group of crypto industry companies, led by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, publicly stated opposition to earlier drafts of the bill.

A lack of legal protections for open-source software developers and a prohibition on yield-bearing stablecoins were among some of the most contentious issues cited by crypto industry opponents of the legislation.

Several attempts have been made by US lawmakers and the White House to negotiate a bill acceptable to both the crypto industry and the bank lobby.

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Earlier this month, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said he plans to release an updated draft bill proposal that would be acceptable to both sides; however, the bill has reportedly received pushback, according to Politico, and has yet to be publicly released. 

However, other crypto industry executives and market analysts have warned that if the CLARITY Act fails to pass, it could open the crypto industry up to future regulatory crackdowns by hostile lawmakers and officials.

Magazine: Stablecoins will see explosive growth in 2025 as world embraces asset class