KuCoin has halted all products and services for customers in Russia and Belarus with immediate effect, making it the latest digital-asset trading venue to pull back from markets constrained by Western sanctions.
The Seychelles-based exchange said in a statement dated Oct. 29 that the decision stems from legal and regulatory requirements, without specifying which sanctions or rules prompted the move. Affected account holders will be contacted individually with deadlines for closing positions and withdrawing funds, the company said. It did not say how many customers would be impacted.
KuCoin joins a widening group of platforms stepping away from the two countries. MEXC said it would stop serving users in both nations on Oct. 20, and Bitget announced its own restrictions this month. Binance, the largest exchange by volume, exited Russia in September 2023 by selling its local business to CommEX, which shut down six months later.
The retreats trace back to February 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered waves of sanctions on Russian banks and transactions. The European Union began targeting crypto assets the same year and in July of this year moved against a $120 billion crypto network known as A7. Brussels has also pursued exchanges based outside the bloc that are suspected of helping sanctioned entities move money.
KuCoin’s compliance record has drawn scrutiny in Washington as well. In January 2025 the firm agreed to pay nearly $300 million after pleading guilty to running an unlicensed money-transmitting business in the U.S. This March, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission barred its operator from serving American customers unless it registers as a foreign board of trade.
ExchangeAction on Russia/BelarusTimingKuCoinFull halt of all products and servicesImmediate, announced Oct. 29MEXCStop serving users in both countriesOct. 20BitgetRestrictions announcedOctoberBinanceSold Russian business to CommEXSeptember 2023
Note: CommEX, the buyer of Binance’s Russian operations, shut down six months after the sale.
For the industry, the latest exit narrows the pool of offshore venues still open to Russian and Belarusian clients, pushing remaining activity toward smaller or less transparent platforms. For KuCoin, the withdrawal removes a customer base but reduces exposure to enforcement action in Europe and the U.S., where its regulatory history is already strained. Users in the two countries face the practical task of winding down positions within deadlines the exchange has yet to publish publicly.