EU Cracks Down on Crypto Platforms Supporting Russia Amid Ongoing Sanctions

The European Union has imposed its 21st package of sanctions against Russia, affecting over 218 entities. The measures target Russian financial systems and include restrictions on cryptocurrency trading platforms.

Chainalysis noted that the EU's latest sanctions package includes a transaction ban applied to 14 crypto-related service platforms operating across six jurisdictions: Georgia, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus.

The banned entities include Rapira, Aifory Pro (Sooty Ltd.), ABCeX, WhiteBird, NoOnecrypto INC., Tradex (Brightum LLC), Monease Ltd, BitPapa, Exnode and Exnode Pay (Arvix), HTX (HUOBI GLOBAL SA), EXMO Ltd, A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa, and PilotFinance Ltd.

The EU has established a mechanism allowing for complete third-country bans on crypto-asset services. This means the EU can forbid all transactions between EU entities and any crypto provider based in a country that hosts services Russia uses to circumvent sanctions.