UK Sanctions Three Crypto Exchanges, Two Payment Platforms

The UK sanctioned three cryptocurrency exchanges and two payment platforms Thursday over suspected links to Russian entities seeking to bypass financial sanctions, tightening compliance pressure on services connected to the network.

The targeted platforms include the Kyrgyzstan-linked exchanges TokenSpot, Grinex and Meer, along with payment processors Cryptomus and Heleket. Chainalysis identified funds flowing to Cryptomus and Heleket from thousands of illicit counterparties, with activity reaching 900 entities in a single month in late 2025.

Chainalysis determined that TokenSpot, Grinex and Meer received more than $308 million from the same deposit address associated with HTX, the exchange operated by Huobi Global. The UK added Huobi Global to its sanctions package in May.

Two of the sanctioned platforms facilitated transactions with the A7 financial network, which claimed to have moved more than $90 billion last year. That amount was described as nearly half of Russia’s annual military expenditure.

HTX said the May designation applied only to Huobi Global as a separate legal entity and that its online exchange and user funds were unaffected. The sanctions are intended to make it harder for sanctioned entities to move and access funds.