"Tether has entered the war against the Russian crypto market and blocked our wallets worth over 2.5 billion rubles," Garantex said.

Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex has temporarily suspended all its services after Tether froze $28 million worth of USDT held on the exchange. The announcement came via a Telegram post from Garantex on March 6,

Tether froze over $28M in Garantex wallets, forcing the Russian exchange to halt withdrawals amid growing regulatory scrutiny.

"The domain for Garantex has been seized by the United States Secret Service pursuant to a seizure warrant obtained by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia under the authority of 18 U.S.C. §§ 981 and 982," reads a seizure banner on the website.

Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex on Thursday said stablecoin Tether had blocked digital wallets on its platform holding more than 2.5 billion roubles ($28 million), forcing it to suspend operations days after coming under EU sanctions.

Sanctioned Russian crypto exchange Garantex is announcing the suspension of its operations after Tether blocked its platform's wallets.

The exchange, which has been linked to Russian banks under EU sanction and criminal groups, has been a target of investigators for years.

Garantex, a crypto exchange accused of laundering billions for criminal and terrorist organizations, was shut down by the US Department of Justice, Germany, and Finland.