KuCoin stopped serving customers in Russia and Belarus effective immediately, covering all products. The exchange cited "applicable legal and regulatory requirements" without naming specific rules. Affected users will receive individual deadlines to close positions and withdraw funds.
The move follows the European Union's adoption of its 21st Russia sanctions package on July 23, which banned transactions with 14 foreign crypto platforms and granted powers to restrict other overseas providers used to evade sanctions. KuCoin subsequently blocked direct and indirect transactions involving A7-linked entities, Rapira, and HTX. A September 29 notice expanded the restricted-counterparty list and warned that intermediary-wallet connections could trigger account reviews or limits.
Austria's financial regulator restricted new business at KuCoin's EU subsidiary in February over gaps in anti-money-laundering and sanctions-compliance appointments. The ban was lifted in May, though separate operational restrictions remained.
KuCoin is the third major exchange to announce regional restrictions within two weeks. Bitget restricted users in Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan after an October 16 terms update. MEXC announced its Russia-Belarus exit on October 20.
Semrush data shows Russia generated 1.03 million visits to KuCoin's website in September, accounting for 3.93% of global traffic and making it the exchange's third-largest traffic source. Applying that share to KuCoin's stated 45 million global users suggests roughly 1.77 million Russian registrations, though this remains an illustrative estimate rather than a verified affected-user count.