Russia · United Kingdom · CryptoSlate
UK treats crypto network like a sanctioned bank after argues it processed $90 billion for Russia
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Western governments spent three years building what they believed was an airtight financial blockade around Russia, severing its banks from SWIFT, freezing sovereign reserves, and barring major institutions from clearing dollar transactions.
Key facts
- On May 26, the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office sanctioned 18 entities and individuals, including Huobi (HTX), a Justin Sun-advised exchange that processed $3.3 trillion in trading
- TRM Labs traced $4.9 billion in direct transfers from HTX to UK-designated entities since 2021, including $1.95 billion to the already-sanctioned Garantex in 2022 and $838 million to A7 in 2025 alone
- The majority stake belongs to Ilan Shor, an Israeli-Moldovan oligarch convicted in 2017 for his role in the theft of $1 billion from three Moldovan banks, who later received Russian citizenship
- The Kremlin's blessing was explicit: when A7 opened a physical branch in Vladivostok in September 2025, Vladimir Putin attended the virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony
Summary
01 The UK sanctioned 18 entities and individuals, using banking-grade rules against crypto firms tied to Russia’s A7 network. 02 Officials say the network and its A7A5 stablecoin moved over $90 billion, supporting sanctioned trade and military procurement. 03 The open question is whether regulators can keep pace as Russia builds crypto rails meant to survive each new restriction. And according to British authorities, Russia may have spent much of that same period engineering an alternative financial system designed to circumvent it entirely.