UK sanctions Huobi and ruble stablecoin issuer in crackdown on Russia crypto networks
Britain applied banking-style sanctions to crypto exchanges for the first time, requiring U.K. financial firms to freeze funds and trace transactions.
What to know:
- The UK sanctioned 18 entities, including Huobi (HTX) and a stablecoin issuer, for helping Russia evade restrictions and finance its war in Ukraine.
- Britain applied banking-style sanctions to crypto exchanges for the first time, requiring U.K. financial firms to freeze funds and trace transactions.
- Sanctions target Russia’s “illicit financial infrastructure,” focusing on the A7 payments network, which officials say moved over $90B for military support.
Among them are Huobi Global S.A., operator of the HTX exchange, Rapira Group LLC, Aifory LLC, Arvix LLC and Bitpapa IC FZC LLC.
HTX is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, with roughly $3.3 trillion in trading volume last year, according to a blog post from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
Elliptic said the platform is suspected of providing services to both the A7 payments network and Garantex, a Russian crypto exchange previously sanctioned by Western authorities. Garantex rebranded to Grinex earlier in the year and last month halted its operations after a $13 million “state-backed” hack.
Britain also sanctioned Open Joint Stock Company “Virtual Asset Issuer,” a Kyrgyzstan-linked company behind the USDKG gold-backed stablecoin, along with several people accused of sanctions-evasion activity, including Sergey Mendeleev, Igor Gorin, Irina Akopyan and Israeli national Liran Cohen.
