Summary
The U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) sanctioned 18 cryptocurrency exchanges, payment providers, and individuals for helping Russia bypass international trade blockades using digital assets.
The package includes HTX (formerly Huobi), which is suspected of channeling over $1.5 billion to Russia through flows from previously sanctioned entities (like Grinex and Garantex).
A central focus of this action is the crypto rails and illicit finance networks exploited by Russia to circumvent U.K. sanctions and fund its war machine against Ukraine.
The U.K’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on Tuesday sanctioned 18 crypto exchanges, banks, and individuals using crypto – including Kyrgyzstan’s gold-backed stablecoin – to help Russia bypass international trade blockades. The package targets the A7 network, a group of companies and individuals that claimed to last year move $90 billion into Russia’s economy using crypto – more than half of the country’s annual military budget. It also includes HTX (formerly known as Huobi), one of the world’s largest international crypto exchanges: according to its annual report, HTX processed $3.3 trillion in trading volume in 2025. The U.K government suspects it has channeled over $1.5 billion to Russia, through flows to other sanctioned entities (Grinex and Garantex). HTX provided services to the A7 network, according to the government. In May 2025 FCDO sanctioned A7 LLC, a Russian company that supports the Russian Ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5, for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine. The more expansive sanctions package issued today goes after many other companies connected to A7, which issues the A7A5 stablecoin.In August 2025, Chainalysis investigated the A7A5 stablecoin, which is issued in Kyrgyzstan, and notched $93 billion in trading volume in its first year, according to Chainalysis’ Crypto Crime Report. Most of that flowed through exchanges with strong Russian ties. Chief among them were Grinex, which in April lost 1 billion rubles (then worth $13.7 billion) to an alleged hack it blamed on “foreign intelligence services” (according to its website), and subsequently shut down. Before that, it had been a primary trading hub for trading A7A5. Grinex was the direct successor of Garantex, a Russia-linked exchange that law enforcement shut down in March 2025 for facilitating global financial crime.Many of the newly-sanctioned entities have direct exposure to Grinex and Garantex, as seen in this graph from Chainalysis Reactor.The UK’s action closely follows the implementation of the EU’s even-broader sectoral ban on the entire Russian and Belarusian crypto economy, from exchanges like Grinex down to decentralized platforms, stablecoins and VASPs. It is a ratcheting up of continent-wide pressure on the economic pumps fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine. Who is being sanctioned?The U.K’s action targets 18 crypto exchanges, banks, and individuals that comprise the “A7 Network” of companies supporting the Russian regime through cryptocurrency transfers.
