The European Union has added crypto exchange HTX to its 21st sanctions package against Russia, alongside 17 other crypto service providers that the bloc says allegedly helped Russian users circumvent Western penalties.

HTX is among the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, offering markets for Bitcoin, Ether and smaller tokens. The exchange was founded in China in 2013 under the name Huobi. In 2022, Hong Kong-based billionaire Justin Sun acquired a majority stake, and Huobi rebranded as HTX in September 2023. The United Kingdom had already sanctioned the platform in May 2026.

The EU’s 21st sanctions package was agreed on 23 July 2026, and the list was made public one day later. It covers 18 crypto companies and imposes a transaction ban rather than a full asset freeze. For crypto firms, that distinction matters because a transaction ban primarily restricts regulated counterparties, payment channels and customer access inside the EU, while an asset freeze would directly immobilise property and funds under EU jurisdiction.

Transaction ban instead of asset freeze for HTX

The measure bars EU citizens and companies in the bloc from conducting any business with HTX. Deposits, withdrawals and trading by European counterparties are all covered by the prohibition. The exchange’s own holdings, however, are not frozen. The package stops short of a complete asset freeze and instead targets the company’s access to the European market rather than its assets.

The EU cited assistance with sanctions evasion as the justification for the designation. The ban is due to take effect around one month after adoption and does not yet apply before then.

For HTX, the EU action marks the second sanctions measure imposed by a major Western jurisdiction within a few months. In late May 2026, the United Kingdom listed the platform as part of a package aimed at shadow financial systems that support Russia’s war economy. Within the industry, that step was regarded as the first sanctioning of such a large and established crypto trading platform, creating significant uncertainty among trading partners and service providers.

At the time of the UK designation, HTX pointed to its compliance procedures.

"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

The company has not publicly responded to the EU designation so far. It remains unclear whether HTX will exclude European customers in the future.

EU sanctions target 17 additional platforms

HTX was not the only crypto company included in the sanctions list. In total, 14 of the 18 designated companies operate trading or payment platforms. Their registered offices are in Georgia, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus. Four additional designations relate to the so-called A7 network.

EXMO, BitPapa, Rapira, Exnode, Aifory Pro and ABCeX are named on the list. WhiteBird, NoOnecrypto INC., Tradex, Monease Ltd., A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa and PilotFinance Ltd. are also included.

The A7 network is a central focus of the crypto-related designations. It emerged as a fallback structure for money flows that had previously run through the Russian exchange Garantex. For years, Garantex was considered a central hub for Russian crypto payments, but the US and its allies dismantled the platform in March 2025.

After that, a substantial share of these flows shifted to A7 and to A7A5, a ruble-pegged stablecoin. Stablecoins are tokens designed to mirror the value of a currency on a blockchain, allowing ruble-denominated payments to move without a Russian bank. The EU had already targeted this stablecoin earlier, and the latest designations extend the sanctions reach to the entities behind it.

The geographic spread of the new designations is notable. None of the newly sanctioned platforms is based in Russia itself. Instead, Brussels is focusing on third countries with weaker oversight. The EU sanctions therefore target the infrastructure through which Russian users access offshore centres and neighbouring regions. In doing so, the bloc is extending its sanctions policy into legal jurisdictions where it does not have direct enforcement power. The effect will ultimately depend on how strongly local supervisors cooperate and whether banks, custodians and payment processors outside the bloc continue to service the named entities.

Justin Sun’s contested role at HTX

Justin Sun took majority control of the exchange, then known as Huobi, in 2022. Since then, the billionaire has formally remained in the background. The company still lists him as an "advisor" rather than as owner or managing director. From outside the company, it is difficult to determine how much control that title represents. The EU designated HTX as an entity, not Sun personally.

Sun’s political position has been ambiguous. He was initially among the most prominent backers of World Liberty Financial, a crypto project co-founded by US President Donald Trump and his sons. That relationship has since cooled. At the same time, European and British authorities are moving against the exchange in which Sun holds a majority stake. For HTX, this ownership structure adds to regulatory pressure.

HTX is now on sanctions lists in two large Western jurisdictions. Banks and payment service providers in Europe must review their relationships with the exchange. For a trading platform of this size, the restrictions imply a reduction in Western business and raise compliance questions for counterparties that may have exposure to HTX through custody, liquidity, payment or market-making arrangements.

Why crypto sanctions face limits

After the British sanctions designation, HTX regularly rotated its deposit and hot wallets. Blockchain analysts observed address rotations across TRON, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain and Solana. These addresses serve as the operational interface between an exchange and the blockchain. Customer funds flow in and out through them, which is why compliance departments monitor them closely.

When a platform repeatedly changes its addresses, sanctions and compliance lists can become outdated faster than reviewers can maintain them. Static sanctions lists therefore lose some force: they identify companies, while enforcement requires address data that can be updated daily.

The pattern has repeated since the dismantling of Garantex. When one hub disappears, new structures emerge elsewhere. The EU has responded by extending designations to third countries, but the time lag remains. A sanctions package can take months, while a wallet rotation can take minutes.

Even so, the measures can still have an effect. According to reports, the exchange EXMO began winding down its operations after British sanctions cut its banking and custody relationships. The main lever is therefore access to the banking system rather than individual blockchain transactions. That is also why the practical impact of the EU decision will be measured less by on-chain address labels alone than by whether financial institutions and crypto infrastructure providers refuse to process activity linked to the sanctioned companies.

For 2025, HTX reported trading volume of around USD 3.3 trillion. Independent confirmation is lacking. The impact of excluding European counterparties from the platform will depend on the exchange’s EU customer share, which HTX does not disclose.