EU sanctions

Volodymyr Zel

2026-10-12 12:13:17

Zelensky accuses Russia of breaching energy ceasefire and urges U.S. action

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Russia had violated the Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire arrangement announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, and called on Washington to act to make sure Moscow complies. Zelensky said Russian forces struck a thermal power plant in Kharkiv and added that Kyiv still has not received the specific terms of the energy ceasefire. He said he learned from media reports that Trump had announced both sides had agreed to it. Zelensky also said Russian forces carried out more than 200 attacks on Ukraine’s power generation and transmission facilities over the past week, with another 17 attacks targeting oil and gas infrastructure, while Ukrainian forces did not strike Russian refineries on Sunday night. European officials remained cautious about whether the ceasefire would hold. French President Emmanuel Macron said he had seen no sign in the past 48 hours that Russia was observing it. EU foreign ministers on Monday approved nearly 1,600 additional sanctions listings targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex, with more than half tied to the ballistic missile production chain. Russia has not responded to the ceasefire arrangement.

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Kraken

2026-08-26 10:54:56

Kraken says 12,000 tiny transfers from HTX-linked wallets briefly locked some customer accounts

Kraken said roughly 12,000 small crypto transfers from wallets linked to sanctioned exchange HTX were sent to Kraken-related addresses between Aug. 17 and Aug. 24, triggering the platform’s sanctions screening and briefly locking some users out of their accounts. Bloomberg, citing Arkham data, said most transfers were worth only a few cents to several dollars and first reported the incident on Tuesday. Kraken described the activity as a dust attack, in which tiny amounts of crypto are pushed to a large number of addresses. A company spokesperson told Bitcoin Magazine that Kraken does not know who sent the transfers, but said the senders likely expected sanctioned funds landing in customer accounts to trigger full account locks and create operational disruption. Kraken said its compliance team restored account access quickly, kept the sanctioned funds on hold as required, and is working with authorities. The transfers overlapped with the date HTX became off-limits in Europe under the EU’s 21st Russia sanctions package. HTX has challenged the attribution and said it is investigating whether the transfers were misidentified or carried out maliciously by a third party.

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Binance

2026-08-14 11:33:08

Binance restricts trading links with 13 platforms, including HTX and A7-linked entities

Binance said on Aug. 14 that it will restrict users from trading, directly or indirectly, with 13 crypto-related platforms through its exchange, a move that includes HTX and several entities tied to the A7 network. The rollout is staggered across three dates, with Shelbit and Aban Tether Exchange affected from Aug. 7, A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa and PilotFinance from Aug. 13, and the remaining nine entities from Aug. 23. According to Binance, transactions that breach the restriction may be suspended and routed to compliance review. User assets could be frozen, wallet functions may be limited, and the activity may violate Binance’s Terms of Use. The exchange said the measure is necessary to meet local regulatory requirements. ABMedia said the list is not arbitrary. Several of the entities are linked to the so-called A7 network, described as a cross-border payments and stablecoin system allegedly used to help Russia evade Western sanctions, centered on the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5. The report also cited earlier coverage saying the European Union’s 21st round of sanctions on Russia included HTX and the A7 network, which it said had a scale of $120 billion.

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EU sanctions

2026-08-07 00:49:15

EU Sanctions Target Crypto Firms Facilitating Russian Oil Trades

The European Union's 21st sanctions package targets cryptocurrency operators that help facilitate Russian oil transactions, aiming to close a loophole that lets Moscow use digital assets to bypass financial restrictions on petroleum trade. The move extends digital asset regulation into energy geopolitics, exposing exchanges and over-the-counter trading desks to compliance risk if they have handled deals tied to sanctioned Russian energy. Separately, Russia's July crude output rebounded to more than 9 million barrels per day, up from roughly 8.86 million bpd in June when drone strikes had cut production. (CryptoBriefing)

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Russia

2026-08-06 11:15:57

Putin signs Russia crypto law as Sept. 1 rollout aligns with mandatory digital ruble launch

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" on Aug. 6, setting its main provisions to take effect on Sept. 1. The measure places crypto exchanges, brokers and custodians under regulation, caps annual retail crypto purchases at 300,000 rubles per intermediary, and keeps the domestic ban on using cryptocurrencies for goods and services in place. Qualified investors are exempt from the purchase cap. Not all provisions start at once: rules tied to non-resident digital custody institutions are delayed until July 1, 2027. The timing stands out because Russia’s central bank is set to move the digital ruble into a mandatory phase on the same day, requiring 12 systemically important banks to support transfers, payments and settlements, while large retailers with annual revenue above 120 million rubles must accept the CBDC. The law comes as Russia seeks a legal basis for crypto use in cross-border trade settlements, even as the European Union expands sanctions targeting networks and platforms accused of helping Russia bypass financial restrictions.

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Policy Regula

2026-07-29 05:43:09

UK and EU Crackdown on Crypto Seen as a Compliance Push Into Mainstream Finance

Regulatory pressure on the crypto sector intensified in mid-2026, with the UK imposing asset freezes and sanctions in May on institutions that included several major crypto exchanges, followed by the European Union’s 21st sanctions package at the end of July. That EU measure is set to ban a broad range of transactions involving 14 crypto platforms starting Aug. 23. The source article argues that the two moves should not be read simply as an attempt to choke off Web3. It draws a distinction between the UK’s more targeted approach, centered on geopolitical risk control and anti-money laundering needs, and the EU’s broader effort to build a compliance firewall around its single market while channeling crypto activity into frameworks such as MiCA, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. It also places the latest actions in a wider financial context, saying large crypto exchanges now face the same kind of scrutiny that major cross-border banks have long encountered. In that view, tougher KYC, AML, and transparency requirements may become the mechanism that allows more institutional capital, including Wall Street firms, pension funds, and family offices, to enter the asset class under clearer rules.

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EU sanctions

2026-07-24 15:46:15

EU’s 21st Russia sanctions package adds HTX and targets the A7 payment network

The European Union approved its 21st round of sanctions against Russia on July 23, in what the Council described as the largest package in four years, with 218 listings spanning the energy, financial and crypto sectors. Among the crypto-related measures, HTX was added to the sanctions list under the name of its operating entity, Huobi Global SA, with the restrictions set to take effect on Aug. 23. The EU said the exchange had “significantly frustrated” sanctions and helped Russian users evade them. Still, HTX was placed under a transaction ban rather than full designation, meaning EU persons are barred from dealing with it but its assets are not frozen. Founder Justin Sun was not separately listed. The sanctions also zero in on the A7 cross-border payment network and the A7A5 stablecoin running on it. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimated that the A7 network has processed nearly $120 billion in transactions so far. The EU also expanded transaction bans to 14 crypto-related platforms across several jurisdictions and introduced a new mechanism that could enable a blanket ban on crypto-asset services used by Russia.

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EU sanctions

2026-07-24 14:21:37

EU Adds Justin Sun-Linked HTX to Russia Sanctions List in Latest Package

The European Union has placed HTX, the crypto exchange owned and advised by Tron founder Justin Sun, under its latest Russia sanctions package, adding the platform’s operator Huobi Global SA to a list of crypto and financial firms accused of undermining the bloc’s restrictions. The measure, adopted as part of the EU’s 21st sanctions package on Thursday, will bar EU persons from transacting with HTX starting August 23, though it does not freeze assets or amount to a full designation. The move comes two months after the UK sanctioned HTX in May, alleging the exchange had funneled more than $1.5 billion to the Kremlin and serviced the A7 network, which is linked to the ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5. The EU package also broadens crypto-related restrictions beyond HTX, extending transaction bans to 14 crypto service platforms based across Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus, while adding four listings tied to the A7 cross-border network. HTX has denied the allegations. Earlier this week, TRM Labs said the exchange had rebuilt its on-chain wallet setup after the UK action, rapidly rotating hot wallets across TRON, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Solana. The U.S. Treasury’s OFAC has not sanctioned HTX so far, leaving a split in enforcement across major jurisdictions.

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