Chainalysis: EU’s New Sanctions on Russia Mark ‘a New Era’ of Crypto Enforcement
Key Takeaways:
Virtual asset service providers (VASPs) located in third countries are already included in the package, as Meer, a Kyrgyzstani exchange offering A7A5 trading pairs. The A7A5 ecosystem facilitated $93.3 billion in volume in less than a year, bridging sanctioned entities to the global financial system.
This means there is a high risk of designating other exchanges, with high risks present for organizations based in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the UAE.
The RUBx token, a Russian ruble-backed stablecoin, and the digital ruble, Russia’s own central bank digital currency ( CBDC), are also designated in the package for the explicit purpose of sanctions circumvention.
For Chainalysis, this package is more than a warning shot and represents the arrival of a new era in crypto enforcement. This view is supported by the broad scope of the designations, which forbid any EU individuals or institutions from transacting with any Russian centralized or decentralized crypto entities.
“The message to the global crypto compliance community is clear: the permissive operating environment for Russia-linked crypto activity is shrinking, and the enforcement infrastructure to back that up is firmly in place,” Chainalysis concluded.
Before, in its 19th sanctions package, the EU had targeted A7A5, another Russian ruble‑pegged stablecoin, claiming that it had become a “prominent tool for financing activities supporting the war of aggression.”
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