UK sanctions added Huobi Global, EXMO and Bitpapa to Russia-related restrictions, widening pressure on crypto firms accused of Russian links.
The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the UK department responsible for foreign policy, added Huobi Global, EXMO and a few Russian crypto OTC exchanges to its Russia sanctions list, as London widened its pressure on financial networks allegedly supporting Russia’s economy.
The May 26 sanctions notice named multiple crypto exchanges, including Huobi Global and listed HTX▼$0.00000169, HTX Exchange and htx.com as linked names and identifiers.
The UK said it had “reasonable grounds to suspect” that Huobi provided financial services to A7 and Garantex, which were referred to as organizations working in sectors strategically important for the Russian government.
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What the Sanctions Mean
The designations trigger asset freeze and restrictions on dealings with the individuals or organizations named. According to the notice, UK banks and financial organizations are prohibited from handling payments from, to or via the designated entity.
EXMO, another crypto exchange, which had been launched back in 2014, was also listed together with the aforementioned Russian OTC crypto exchanges Rapira Group, Aifory, Bitpapa, and many others. All of them have been charged with helping the Russian financial sector.
HTX pushed back after the designation, saying the listed entity is separate from the online HTX exchange. The company added in an X post that the UK’s designation arrived “without prior notice or any supporting evidence shared with us.”
Justin Sun, an adviser to HTX, also said on X that he had been made aware of the developments and would keep monitoring the situation. EXMO had made no public statement on the UK designation as of press time.
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