Kyrgyz Exchange Grinex Blames Foreign Hackers for £1B Theft

A Kyrgyzstan-based exchange, Grinex, said it had been subjected to a “large-scale cyber-attack” by “foreign” intelligence agencies, claiming the raid led to the theft of one billion rubles from Russian customers. The company, described as the successor to Garantex, said it was forced to suspend operations after the incident, and asserted that only Western actors would have the resources and technology to carry out such an attack to harm Russia’s financial sovereignty.

Grinex disclosed the crypto address where funds were deposited after being converted to TRX, and said it had filed a criminal complaint and shared information with law enforcers. However, experts are skeptical; Chainalysis said Western agencies typically freeze centralized stablecoins rather than swap them, noting the funds were moved to a Tron-based decentralised exchange to swap into TRX.

Chainalysis suggested the move could raise questions about Grinex’s narrative and warned of possible false-flag dynamics in the case. according to Chainalysis.