The European Union sanctioned HTX on July 23 in its 21st sanctions package, prohibiting EU operators from transacting with the exchange from August 23 without freezing its assets. The bloc added 14 crypto service platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, including EXMO, BitPapa and Rapira. The A7 cross-border payments network, linked to sanctioned Moldovan politician Ilan Shor and Russian state-owned lender Promsvyazbank, was also designated, with four new entities tied to its Africa expansion added. A7 claims to have processed over $90 billion during 2025 and operates A7A5, a ruble-backed stablecoin. The EU introduced for the first time a mechanism allowing it to restrict crypto services across entire third countries hosting platforms used to evade Russia sanctions.
Source: Read the original article
