Grinex Crypto Exchange Halts Trading After $13M Cyberattack Blamed on Western Intelligence
Severity: High (Score: 74.0)
Sources: www.elliptic.co, Decrypt.Co, Uk.Finance.Yahoo
Summary
Russian crypto exchange Grinex announced on April 16, 2026, that it has suspended trading after a cyberattack resulted in the theft of over 1 billion rubles (approximately $13 million). The exchange, linked to the sanctioned Garantex, accused 'Western special services' of orchestrating the attack, citing advanced resources and technologies indicative of state involvement. Grinex stated that the attack aimed to undermine Russia's financial sovereignty and has reported the incident to law enforcement for a criminal investigation. The stolen funds were traced to approximately $15 million worth of USDT, which were subsequently converted to ETH or TRX on blockchain networks. Grinex has faced ongoing cyber threats since its inception, claiming that its infrastructure has been under attack and that previous attempts to limit cryptocurrency withdrawals have occurred. The U.S. Secret Service, which previously seized Garantex, declined to comment on the ongoing investigation. The current status of the exchange remains paused as it assesses the impact of the breach. Key Points: • Grinex halted trading after a $13 million cyberattack on April 16, 2026. • The exchange accused Western intelligence services of being behind the attack. • Approximately $15 million in stolen assets were traced to blockchain conversions.
Key Entities
- Data Breach (attack_type)
- Grinex (company)
- Ethereum (company)
- Kyrgyzstan (country)
- Russia (country)
- Ukraine (country)
- Financial (industry)
- TRON (platform)