Binance Cuts Off 16 Crypto Platforms Worldwide, Including HTX, as EU Russia Sanctions Reach African P2P Markets
Binance announced on August 14 that it will block transactions involving 16 cryptocurrency exchanges and payment platforms globally, citing the European Union's 21st Russia sanctions package and a separate US Treasury action, with restrictions on the largest tranche taking effect August 23.
One of the world's largest crypto exchanges will sever ties with platforms across multiple countries, including HTX (formerly Huobi Global), the P2P exchange BitPapa, and two branches of the A7 payments network that had been building commercial infrastructure across Africa, with documented operations in Nigeria and Togo in West Africa and Zimbabwe in Southern Africa. Binance said the restrictions are necessary to meet regulatory requirements and "maintain a secure environment." Crucially, the company is applying the blocks to all users worldwide, not only those in EU, EEA, or Swiss jurisdictions where the legal obligation actually applies.
The Full Block List and Timeline
Five of the 16 platforms are already cut off. Shelbit and Aban Tether Exchange were blocked on August 7, following a US Treasury OFAC designation targeting Iran-linked financial networks. A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa, and PilotFinance Ltd were blocked August 13 after the EU's sanctions kicked in. The remaining 11 platforms, including HTX, BitPapa, EXMO Ltd, Rapira, ABCeX, WhiteBird, Aifory Pro, NoOnecrypto INC., Tradex, Monease Ltd, and Exnode/Exnode Pay, face cutoffs effective August 23. Binance said transactions attempted after the relevant effective dates may be held for compliance review, and restrictions may also apply to associated wallets during ongoing scrutiny.
The EU's 21st sanctions package, adopted July 23 under Council Regulation (EU) 2026/1844, is the bloc's largest single Russia-related sanctions action in four years. It lists 218 entities and individuals in total, comprising 48 individuals and 170 entities, including 14 crypto platforms across Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. That six-country figure applies specifically to the 14 EU-designated crypto platforms; the two OFAC-designated platforms, Shelbit and Aban Tether Exchange, may originate from additional jurisdictions not reflected in that count. The package also introduces a new and unprecedented legal mechanism that allows the EU to ban crypto-asset services from entire third-country jurisdictions, not just individually named firms, if those jurisdictions are found to host platforms facilitating Russia's sanctions evasion. The European Commission has described this authority as "a strong deterrent to countries hosting platforms that help Russia evade EU sanctions."
The A7 Network: $120 Billion and an African Footprint
The central target of the crypto-specific designations is the A7 cross-border payments network. Promsvyazbank, a Russian state defense bank already under sanctions, co-created A7 in late 2024 alongside Ilan Shor, a fugitive Moldovan oligarch. The network operates the A7A5 ruble-backed stablecoin and is designed to process international trade settlements in rubles through crypto infrastructure, bypassing Western financial systems. Chainalysis estimates the network has processed nearly $120 billion in cumulative volume. The Financial Times separately reported that roughly $9.3 billion passed through the A7A5 stablecoin in just four months.
The network's African dimension is not peripheral. Investigative reporting by The Insider identified A7 job listings in Togo, documented the existence of A7's Nigerian branch website, and found the network was preparing operations in Zimbabwe. The EU specifically named A7 Nigeria and A7 Africa in the 21st package. Kaja Kallas, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, described the package's scope bluntly: "We're hitting over a hundred banks and crypto operators, 40+ vessels in Russia's shadow fleet, and several oil refineries in Russia and Belarus."
BitPapa Block Lands Directly on Nigerian and Ghanaian Users
Beyond the A7 entities, the block on BitPapa carries immediate consequences for everyday crypto users in West Africa. BitPapa is an actively marketed peer-to-peer exchange with a documented user base in Nigeria and Ghana. It supports trading in Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Toncoin, and Monero through escrow-based P2P transactions and operates across Telegram, iOS, Android, and web. In markets where bank transfers are slow, expensive, or inaccessible, P2P platforms like BitPapa serve as a primary onramp to crypto. Users who transacted through BitPapa and held Binance accounts simultaneously will now face blocked transfers between the two platforms starting August 23.
The sanctions also create compliance risk for African intermediaries who may have been unknowingly part of A7's payments chain. Ordinary users and local businesses transacting with platforms connected to the network may not have been aware that their counterparty carried sanctions exposure, a distinction that regulators may not fully account for in enforcement.
HTX Caught Between UK and EU Actions
HTX has been under mounting pressure since May 2026, when the UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation designated Huobi Global S.A. on grounds that it had reasonable grounds to suspect the exchange provided financial services connected to sanctioned entities including Garantex and the A7 network. That designation is reinforced by HTX's traffic profile: available data shows that 31.64% of HTX's desktop traffic originates from Russia, providing direct evidence for the sanctions rationale. Following the UK action, OKX, Bybit, and Bitget each increased transfer scrutiny on HTX-linked transactions before Binance moved to block outright. HTX responded to the UK designation by stating that "regulatory compliance remains our absolute top priority" and arguing that Huobi Global S.A. is a legally distinct entity from the active HTX exchange. The company also said it had rejected an application to list the A7A5 stablecoin.
EXMO, India, and the South Asian Dimension
The block list's global reach extends well beyond Africa. EXMO Ltd, one of the 11 platforms facing an August 23 cutoff, has a historically significant user base in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia. Its inclusion in the EU's 21st sanctions package reflects the bloc's focus on platforms that have maintained operational ties to Russian financial networks, and its removal from Binance connectivity will be felt across the post-Soviet states where it has been most active.
The impact on South Asia is indirect but meaningful. HTX draws approximately 4.17% of its desktop traffic from India, a market with a large and crypto-active population. EXMO's Central Asian user base spans countries including Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where Binance itself is a dominant platform. Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are additional significant Binance markets where the globally applied blocks will be felt by users who depend on Binance as a gateway to other platforms, regardless of whether those users fall under any EU legal obligation.
Compliance Ripple Effects Beyond the Named Platforms
Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs warns that funds one or two hops removed from designated platforms carry sanctions exposure. That means developers running DeFi protocols, custodial wallets, or on-chain tools that interact with user funds flowing from these platforms should not rely on static list-matching alone. Dynamic, real-time sanctions screening is increasingly the baseline expectation from regulators.
Binance's decision to apply these restrictions globally, rather than limiting them to EU, EEA, and Swiss jurisdictions, sets a visible compliance benchmark that other major exchanges operating outside Europe may face pressure to match. For African crypto hubs such as Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, the EU's new third-country jurisdiction authority introduces a longer-term risk: if domestic platforms are found to facilitate Russia sanctions evasion, the EU now has legal tools to ban crypto services from those countries outright. That measure has not yet been used, but it sits ready in the regulatory architecture.
A Pattern of Escalation
The 21st sanctions package does not stand alone. The EU's 20th package, adopted in April 2026, explicitly flagged Russia's growing reliance on crypto infrastructure to circumvent Western financial restrictions. The 21st package represents a significant escalation from that baseline, moving from naming individual platforms to establishing the legal authority to designate entire third-country jurisdictions. As Russia's use of crypto rails for trade settlement continues to expand, and as networks like A7 demonstrate the scale at which ruble-denominated stablecoin infrastructure can operate, further rounds of EU crypto-focused sanctions appear increasingly likely.