On July 23, 2026, the Council of the European Union approved its 21st sanctions package against Russia. It expanded the ban on transactions with 14 platforms connected to the cryptocurrency industry and also added four new entities linked to the A7 network to the sanctions lists. In total, the package contains 218 new sanctions listings — the largest expansion of the sanctions list in the past four years.
The EU extends crypto sanctions beyond its borders
The most important change for sanctions-compliance specialists was the extension of the restrictions beyond EU territory.
Whereas sanctions were previously imposed on individual cryptocurrency platforms, the EU has now gained the ability to ban the provision of cryptocurrency services to companies from entire third countries if their jurisdictions are used to circumvent anti-Russian sanctions.
According to European authorities, Russia's access to the international financial system is currently ensured by a network of intermediaries built in such a way as to keep operating even after individual participants are cut off. A significant part of this infrastructure is located far beyond the European Union.
What the EU Council approved: 218 listings, 94 banks, and 14 crypto platforms
The new package substantially expands the restrictions on Russia's banking and financial sector.
The EU Council introduced an asset freeze and a ban on providing funds to 94 banks and major financial institutions. In addition, the ban on transactions was extended to a further 33 Russian credit and financial institutions.
Separately, restrictions were imposed on one bank in Kyrgyzstan connected to the SPFS financial-messaging system, as well as on three more foreign banks that, in the EU's view, took part in circumventing sanctions.
- 1. As for the cryptocurrency industry, the package provides for two key changes. First, the sanctions list was expanded by four organizations linked to the international A7 network, which is said to be expanding its activities, including into Africa.
- 2. Second, the ban on transactions now extends to 14 cryptocurrency platforms registered in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, linked the new measures to the overall strategy of increasing economic pressure on Russia, stating that each new sanctions package limits the Russian economy's ability to continue military operations. According to her, the 21st package became the largest in terms of the number of new restrictions in the past four years, affecting more than a hundred banks and cryptocurrency operators, over forty vessels of the so-called "shadow fleet," and several oil-refining facilities in Russia and Belarus.
A ban on entire countries — a new instrument of EU sanctions policy
Previously, European sanctions targeted specific cryptocurrency platforms. The new provision works differently. The European Union now gains the power to restrict the activities of cryptocurrency services with respect to entire states at once, if it is established that platforms helping Russia circumvent sanctions operate specifically through their territory.
This means that responsibility now falls not only on individual platforms, but also on the states that allow such infrastructure to operate, as well as on companies that continue to interact with services registered there. For such countries, there arises the risk that their entire cryptocurrency sector could lose access to the European market.
Which 14 platforms fell under sanctions: HTX, Exmo, Rapira
The new restrictions affect platforms linked to the A7 sanctions-evasion network. Some of them had already been under UK or US sanctions before.
In many cases, the new European sanctions coincide with restrictions previously imposed by the United Kingdom and the United States. This points to coordination among the allies, who are consistently expanding pressure on the same elements of the international infrastructure used to circumvent sanctions.
Pressure on A7: how the EU, UK, and US sanctions overlap
The European measures continue a series of coordinated actions against the A7 network. The most telling example was the UK's sanctions of May 26, 2026, when restrictions were imposed on 18 companies and individuals, including HTX, Exmo, Bitpapa, and Rapira. On that occasion, the United Kingdom applied Regulation 17A of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to a cryptocurrency exchange for the first time.
A similar pattern had already been observed before.
Each new sanctions package forces the financial flows to move to the next element of the network. This is precisely why the joint actions of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union make it possible to cover a considerably larger part of this infrastructure than the measures of individual states.
Sanctions are imposed on companies, but crypto wallets are constantly changing. The story of HTX clearly demonstrates what happens after sanctions are imposed on a major cryptocurrency platform.
Following the UK restrictions, the exchange kept its former brand but completely rebuilt its blockchain infrastructure, regularly changing the addresses of its deposit and hot wallets across the TRON, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Solana networks all at once. Research showed that the hot wallets and deposit addresses in use could be replaced in just a few hours.
For this reason, merely adding an organization to a sanctions list is not enough to know which addresses it is using today. Every change of wallets, creation of new addresses, and transfer of funds between services remains visible on the blockchain and can be traced. This makes it possible to monitor a platform's activity even after its infrastructure has changed, and not only through the addresses that were in use at the time the sanctions were imposed.
What this means for compliance: a sanctions list alone is not enough
Even funds passing through one or two intermediate wallets after a sanctioned platform can retain sanctions risks. After restrictions are imposed, financial flows quickly move to new infrastructure, so tracking the change of wallets and the further movement of funds becomes no less important than simply checking against official sanctions lists.
The new provision on third countries also substantially changes the approach to risk assessment. Companies now need to take into account not only the platforms already under sanctions, but also the states in whose territory they operate. It is precisely the combination of traditional sanctions lists with the analysis of blockchain participants' behavior that makes it possible to detect new evasion schemes even before the next sanctions package appears.
