Overview
- The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office added Huobi Global S.A. (listed as HTX) and 17 other entities to its Russia sanctions list, a designation that took effect on May 26 and freezes assets linked to the named parties.
- For the first time the UK used Regulation 17A against crypto platforms, banning UK banks and virtual asset service providers from correspondent relationships with the designated entities and requiring them to block or trace payments tied to those platforms.
- Major exchanges including Binance, OKX, Bybit and Bitget warned users that transfers involving HTX could face extra compliance checks and that some transactions may be rejected or delayed.
- HTX has disputed the application, saying the listed corporate entity is legally distinct from its online exchange, while blockchain analytics firms published multi‑year traces showing billions of dollars in Russia‑linked flows routed through HTX.
- The sanctions target the A7 payments network and related ruble stablecoin plumbing and could push correspondent banks and trading counterparties to de‑risk, create withdrawal frictions for UK users, and spur legal and regulatory battles going forward.