Russian crypto trading platform Grinex shuts down, experts say it will 'seriously damage' Russia's shadow economy According to BlockBeats, on April 20th, according to DLNEWS, Russia's main cryptocurrency trading platform Grinex ceased operations last Wednesday due to suspected major cyber attacks, reportedly losing over 1 billion rubles (approximately 13 million US dollars). The platform claimed on Telegram that the attack showed "signs of foreign intelligence agency involvement". Grinex is the successor to the previously sanctioned and closed Garantex trading platform, providing a financial channel for the Russian economy to evade sanctions. In 2025, it processed nearly $100 billion in trading volume for the sanctioned stablecoin A7A5. Experts point out that the closure of Grinex is not only due to the hacker attack itself, but more importantly, it has removed the trading platform that Russian companies rely on to convert rubles into usable international currencies, causing "serious damage" to Russia's infrastructure for evading sanctions and making the pressure on the Russian economy from sanctions more difficult to escape. The trading platform was sanctioned by Western authorities such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union in August 2025. At the same time, the Russian economy continues to weaken, with Putin revealing that GDP fell by 1.8% in January and February this year, and maritime oil exports may drop to their lowest level since 2023.