The UK has imposed new sanctions on multiple cryptocurrency trading platforms, accusing them of assisting Russia in circumventing trade restrictions

The UK has announced a new round of sanctions against several cryptocurrency trading platforms, P2P trading services, and shadow financial networks, accusing them of assisting Russia in circumventing Western trade restrictions and providing funding channels for war financing. The platforms blacklisted include EXMO Exchange, Bitpapa, Rapira, Nueva Cryptologia, among others.

The UK claims that these platforms are linked to the Kremlin-supported "A7" payment network, which reportedly processed over $90 billion in fund flows last year for Russian oil export settlements and military procurement financing. The new sanctions include global asset freezes, a ban on UK financial institutions providing services, and restrictions on the operational channels of the relevant platforms in multiple countries. The regions involved also include transit jurisdictions such as Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Panama, and the UAE. The UK government stated that this move aims to cut off Russia's use of crypto assets for cross-border payments and to evade sanctions through "shadow financial infrastructure."