The EU has added the crypto exchange HTX to its 21st sanctions package against Russia. The EU sanctions also hit 17 further crypto service providers that allegedly helped Russian users circumvent Western penalties.
HTX ranks among the world's largest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies. Users trade Bitcoin, Ether and smaller tokens there. The exchange originally launched in China in 2013 under the name Huobi. In 2022, Hong Kong-based billionaire Justin Sun acquired a majority stake. Huobi became HTX in September 2023. The United Kingdom had already sanctioned the platform in May 2026. The 21st EU package came together on 23 July 2026. A day later, the list became public. It covers 18 crypto companies and imposes a transaction ban, not a full asset freeze.
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Transaction ban instead of asset freeze for HTX
The ban bars EU citizens and companies from the bloc from all business with HTX. Deposits, withdrawals and trading by European counterparties all fall under it. However, the holdings of the exchange itself remain untouched. The package stops short of a complete asset freeze. The measure therefore targets access to the European market, not the substance of the company. As justification, the bloc points to assistance with sanctions evasion.
The ban takes effect only around a month after adoption. Until then, it does not yet apply. For the exchange, it marks the second sanctions blow within a few months. Back in late May 2026, the United Kingdom listed the platform. That designation formed part of a package against shadow financial systems that prop up Russia's war economy. Within the industry, the step counted as the first sanctioning of such a large and established crypto trading platform. Uncertainty among trading partners and service providers ran correspondingly high. The exchange, however, pointed to its compliance processes at the time.
"Regulatory compliance remains a top priority for HTX. We proactively monitor and strictly adhere to the regulatory frameworks in all jurisdictions where we operate globally, including the United Kingdom." - HTX spokesperson
So far, the company has not responded publicly to the EU designation. Whether the platform will shut out European customers in future remains open.
EU sanctions target 17 further platforms
The sanctions list does not hit HTX in isolation. In total, 14 of the 18 designated companies run trading or payment platforms. Their registered offices sit in Georgia, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus. Four additional designations concern the so-called A7 network. EXMO, BitPapa, Rapira, Exnode, Aifory Pro and ABCeX also appear by name. Furthermore, the list includes WhiteBird, NoOnecrypto INC., Tradex, Monease Ltd., A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa and PilotFinance Ltd.
The A7 network forms one focus of the crypto designations. It emerged as a fallback structure for money flows that previously ran through the Russian exchange Garantex. For years, Garantex counted as the central hub for Russian crypto payments. Yet the US and its allies dismantled the platform in March 2025. Later, a substantial share of these flows shifted to A7 and to the ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5. Such tokens mirror the value of a currency on the blockchain. So payments in ruble denominations run without a Russian bank.
The EU had already targeted this stablecoin earlier. Consequently, the latest designations extend the reach to the entities behind it. The geographic spread stands out. None of the newly sanctioned platforms sits in Russia itself. Instead, Brussels concentrates on third countries with porous oversight. The EU sanctions therefore target the infrastructure through which Russian users reach offshore centres and neighbouring regions. Thus the bloc extends its claim into legal jurisdictions where it holds no direct enforcement power. Ultimately, the effect depends on how strongly supervisors on the ground cooperate.
Justin Sun's contested role at HTX
Justin Sun took majority control of the then Huobi in 2022. Since then, the billionaire has formally stayed in the background. The company still lists him as an "advisor", not as owner or managing director. How much control sits behind that label is hard to judge from the outside. The EU designated the exchange as an entity, not Sun personally.
Politically, Sun is an ambivalent figure. At first, he ranked among the most prominent backers of World Liberty Financial. US President Donald Trump and his sons co-founded this crypto project. The relationship has since cooled. At the same time, European and British authorities are moving against the exchange in which Sun holds the majority. For the platform, this ownership structure raises regulatory pressure further.
As a result, HTX now sits on a sanctions list in two large Western jurisdictions. Banks and payment service providers in Europe must review their ties to the exchange. For a trading house of this size, that ultimately means a cut into the Western business.
Why crypto sanctions run into limits
Following the British sanction, HTX rotated its deposit and hot wallets regularly. Blockchain analysts observed rotations across TRON, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain and Solana. These addresses form the operational interface between an exchange and the blockchain. Customer funds flow in and out through them, which is why compliance departments monitor them. If a platform keeps switching its addresses, such lists age faster than reviewers can maintain them.
Static sanctions lists thus lose force. They name companies, while enforcement needs address data updated daily. The pattern has repeated since the takedown of Garantex. When one hub falls away, new structures emerge elsewhere. The EU responds with the extension to third countries. Nevertheless, the time lag persists.
A sanctions package takes months, a wallet rotation takes minutes. Still, the measures are not without effect. According to reports, the exchange EXMO began winding down its operations. British sanctions had cut its banking and custody relationships. The lever therefore lies with access to the banking system, less with the individual blockchain transaction. For 2025, HTX itself reported a trading volume of around USD 3.3 trillion. Independent confirmation is lacking. How hard an exclusion of European counterparties hits the platform depends on its EU customer share. That share the exchange does not disclose.
