A Russian finance ministry official has reportedly said the country should be developing its own stablecoin after a recent freeze on wallets linked to the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex by US authorities and stablecoin issuer Tether. 

Deputy director of Russia’s Finance Ministry’s financial policy department, Osman Kabaloev, said the Kremlin should be exploring the possibility of developing a stablecoin like Tether’s (USDT) to avoid similar actions in the future, according to April 16 reports by Reuters and the state-owned news agency TASS.

“We do not impose restrictions on the use of stablecoins within the experimental legal regime. Recent developments have shown that this instrument can pose risks for us,” Kabaloev told TASS.

“This leads us to consider the need to develop internal instruments akin to USDT, potentially pegged to other currencies.”

On March 6, the US Department of Justice collaborated with authorities in Germany and Finland to freeze domains associated with Garantex, which authorities claimed processed over $96 billion worth of criminal proceeds since launching in 2019.

Stablecoin operator Tether also froze $27 million worth of its stablecoin on March 6, forcing Garantex to halt all operations, including withdrawals.

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control first hit Garantex with sanctions in April 2022 over alleged money laundering violations.

Russian crypto exchange Garantex had to halt withdrawals after Tether Froze $27 million of its USDT. Source: US Department of Justice

Garantex has allegedly resurfaced under a new name after reportedly laundering millions in ruble-backed stablecoins and transferring them to a newly established exchange, a Swiss blockchain analytics firm has claimed.

Russia already making crypto moves 

Meanwhile, Evgeny Masharov, a member of the Russian Civic Chamber, proposed on March 20 to create a Russian government crypto fund that would include assets confiscated from criminal proceedings.

Related: $1T stablecoin supply could drive next crypto rally — CoinFund’s Pakman

At the same time, other officials were progressing with new legislation on recognizing crypto as property for the purposes of criminal procedure legislation.

The whole stablecoin market capitalization has grown since mid-2023, surpassing $200 billion in early 2025. A joint report from onchain analysis platforms Artemis and Dune, meanwhile, showed that active stablecoin wallets increased by over 50% in one year. 

Stablecoins also saw massive adoption in 2024, driven by the increased use of bots, with total stablecoin volumes reaching $27.6 trillion, surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. 

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