US Authorities Impose Sanctions on Cryptocurrency Exchange Suex

The US Department of the Treasury has announced the imposition of sanctions against the cryptocurrency exchange Suex. Although Suex is registered in the Czech Republic, according to Chainalysis, the company’s management is based in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with additional offices in other regions of Russia and the Middle East.

As a result of these sanctions, Suex’s assets in the United States have been frozen, and American companies are now prohibited from conducting business with Suex under threat of fines and further sanctions. The Treasury Department has also published a list of 25 cryptocurrency wallets used by Suex for daily transactions.

Background and Reasons for Sanctions

The decision to sanction Suex follows a recent statement by the Biden administration, which declared its readiness to crack down on intermediaries supporting the ransomware ecosystem, with cryptocurrency exchanges being a top priority.

It appears that Suex was specifically created to help cybercriminals launder money. Despite operating for over three years, Suex had not attracted much attention and did not handle particularly large sums, which is why it never appeared in the Coinmarketcap rankings.

However, according to US authorities, between 2018 and 2021, Suex helped ransomware operators and other cybercriminals launder over $160 million, working with at least eight different ransomware groups. In total, about 40% of all transactions processed by Suex were linked to stolen funds.

Chainalysis Findings

Chainalysis analysts report that since its launch in February 2018, Suex received over $481 million in Bitcoin alone, including funds from cybercriminals:

• Nearly $13 million from ransomware operators, including Ryuk, Conti, Maze, and others;
• Over $24 million from cryptocurrency scammers, including organizers of the infamous Finiko pyramid scheme, which caused victims in Russia and Ukraine to lose around $1 billion;
• More than $20 million from darknet marketplaces (mainly Hydra in Russia);
• Over $50 million from addresses linked to the BTC-e exchange, which was shut down by authorities in 2017.

“Interestingly, transfers from BTC-e to Suex occurred after BTC-e was closed, with some happening as recently as this year. We believe Suex may have processed these transfers on behalf of BTC-e administrators, partners, or former users trying to recover cryptocurrency stuck on the exchange. Our analysis of Suex’s blockchain activity shows that the exchange converted cryptocurrency to cash for users at its branches in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and possibly in other locations,” the Chainalysis report states.