Cryptoupdated 1h ago2 min read
KuCoin Discontinues Services in Russia and Belarus, Citing Compliance and Sanctions Pressure
“linked the withdrawals to rising compliance costs and the risk of secondary sanctions.”
“KuCoin cited compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, without identifying any specific sanctions or regulations behind the decision.”
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KuCoin immediately suspends all products and services for users in Russia and Belarus. Cited legal and regulatory compliance and sanctions pressure drive the withdrawal.
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KuCoin cuts Russia, Belarus
KuCoin discontinued all services for users in Russia and Belarus, effective immediately, and the exchange said the decision covers access to all KuCoin products, services, and features in both countries. KuCoin told customers that the move could inconvenience affected users but would facilitate an orderly termination process, allowing eligible users to close their positions and withdraw their assets before applicable deadlines.
KuCoin said affected users would receive notifications containing relevant deadlines and instructions for closing their accounts and withdrawing their assets, while users who had not received a notification did not need to take any action at that stage. KuCoin also said its support team would remain available to assist affected users and urged customers to remain vigilant against phishing attempts during the transition.
Compliance rationale, sanctions context
KuCoin cited legal and regulatory compliance concerns for cutting off services to users based in Russia and Belarus, which the exchange described as the targets of international sanctions. KuCoin said in a Thursday X post that "Compliance is at the core of our operations and guides our decisions on where and how we offer our services," linking the suspension to its compliance framework.
The move came as many crypto companies complied with international sanctions led by the United States and Europe against Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine, and KuCoin said it would offer an “orderly exit process” to allow users to withdraw assets. Russia’s central bank approved the National Association of Securities Market Participants, commonly known as NAUFOR, as a self-regulatory body for crypto exchanges and custodians, and the central bank’s registry included 23 crypto exchanges and eight digital custody institutions.
Who else pulled back
KuCoin’s exit placed it alongside rivals MEXC and Bitget, which also announced restrictions on Russian and Belarusian customers, with MEXC saying it would stop serving users in both countries on Oct. 20.
“MEXC said that it would stop servingusers in both countries on Oct. 20.”
The Moscow Times reported that KuCoin stopped serving users in Russia and Belarus and said the decision followed similar moves by Bitget and MEXC, while KuCoin cited regulatory compliance and offered affected customers time to close trading positions and withdraw assets.
The Moscow Times also stated that KuCoin ranks eighth in CoinMarketCap’s exchange rankings with daily trading volume of about $1.2 billion and that the company says it has around 45 million users.
A senior analyst at BestChange, Nikita Zuborev, linked the withdrawals to rising compliance costs and the risk of secondary sanctions, and the European Union imposed sanctions on crypto exchange HTX in July, accusing it of facilitating the circumvention of sanctions against Russia.