April 4, 2025 — The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned eight cryptocurrency addresses linked to Russia-based exchange Garantex, targeting a financial network allegedly used by Yemen’s Houthi movement to fund terrorism, arms procurement, and sanctions evasion across the Middle East.
The move is part of a broader crackdown aimed at disrupting the financial flows supporting Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, a group the U.S. re-designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in January 2025.
$1 Billion in Illicit Crypto Transactions
According to data from blockchain analytics firms Chainalysis and TRM Labs, the newly sanctioned addresses — six private wallets and two linked to mainstream deposit services — have collectively processed nearly $1 billion in illicit transactions.
These funds were allegedly funneled to support Houthi operations in Yemen and the Red Sea region, including attacks on commercial shipping routes and arms procurement. TRM Labs also confirmed that significant transaction volume has flowed from these wallets to other high-risk and OFAC-sanctioned entities, including Iranian facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal, who is linked to both the Houthis and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
Garantex’s Role in Facilitating Terror Financing
The exchange Garantex — sanctioned by OFAC in 2022 for facilitating ransomware-related laundering — has again come under fire, with on-chain data revealing that over $45 million was moved through its platform by entities connected to the Houthis. OFAC stated that Garantex played a central role in “enabling and concealing” the group’s cross-border crypto transactions.
Garantex announced its closure in early March 2025, shortly after Tether blacklisted $30 million in USDT linked to suspicious activity. However, reports later revealed that Garantex had likely rebranded as Grinex, transferring both users and funds to the new platform to continue operations under a different name.
Meanwhile, Indian authorities arrested Aleksej Besciokov, Garantex’s co-founder, in mid-March under an arrest warrant issued by New Delhi’s Patiala House Court. Though considered a significant move, the arrest hasn’t fully disrupted the group’s financial activities, as recent reports show continued movement of funds to sanctioned destinations.
Strategic Significance
The sanctions come just weeks after President Donald Trump re-designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasizing that the group’s activities “threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade.”
OFAC’s action aims to weaken the Houthis’ operational capacity by cutting off access to international crypto liquidity and further isolating state and non-state actors using digital assets for terrorist financing.
A Broader Regulatory Push
This latest enforcement step underscores the U.S. government’s ongoing efforts to clamp down on illicit crypto networks tied to terrorism, organized crime, and hostile nation-state actors. It also reflects a growing recognition of the role decentralized finance and virtual asset platforms play in geopolitical conflict zones.
As OFAC continues to track and sanction these crypto-linked entities, analysts warn that exchanges, custodians, and DeFi protocols must strengthen compliance measures to avoid being complicit in cross-border terror financing.
