The European Union established a dedicated 12-month task force to prevent Russia from using cryptocurrencies to evade economic sanctions

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Cryptocurrency exchange Binance stated that it has zero tolerance for sanctions violations or illicit activity and permitted no transactions with sanctioned individuals

The European Union's 21st sanctions package allowed the bloc to ban entire crypto jurisdictions by ordering European exchanges to halt transactions with services in specific named nations

Ukraine and the United Kingdom are providing support to the European Union's 12-month crypto sanctions task force

The European Union targeted the complete Russian crypto ecosystem in its 20th sanctions package introduced in July 2026

The European Union crypto task force will operate within a newly created sanctions office designed to strengthen coordination between member states across policy design, implementation, enforcement, and anti-circumvention

The four individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury on November 5, 2026 were Qiu Yong, Zhao Mengyao, He Yujing, and Visal Pang

The U.S. Treasury's November 5, 2026 sanctions action targeted corporate vehicles linked to Prince Group across the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Singapore, Mauritius, and Malaysia

The November 5, 2026 designations brought the total number of U.S. sanctioned individuals and entities linked to Prince Group to 226, following earlier tranches in October 2025 and June 2026

Visal Pang was designated by the U.S. Treasury for controlling 11 Cambodian companies linked to Prince Group executive Chen Bo across construction, logistics, hotel management, and a mobile super app

FinCEN alleged MEXC Global processed $22 million benefiting Iran's central bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Qods Force, alongside nearly $200 million connected to the A7A5 stablecoin

As part of Operation Economic Outcast, the U.S. Treasury designated Russia's A7 Network a transnational criminal organization and sanctioned Iranian crypto exchanges Nobitex and BitBank, the latter over alleged transfers to the IRGC

FinCEN designated MEXC Global as a primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance under Section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act

The U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Section 9714(a) Combating Russian Money Laundering Act order prohibiting U.S. financial institutions from processing transfers with MEXC Global, effective 30 days after Federal Register publication

FinCEN cited severe deficiencies in MEXC Global's anti-money-laundering controls, noting the exchange processed trades with sanctioned Russian platform Garantex and successor Grinex as recently as June 2026

The order targeting MEXC Global forms part of Operation Economic Outcast, a U.S. Treasury campaign targeting financial networks supporting Iranian sanctions evasion activities

FinCEN found MEXC Global processed at least $16 billion in illicit transactions between May 2021 and May 2026, including nearly $1.5 billion tied to Russian sanctions evasion

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that financial institutions must choose between supporting the Iranian regime or retaining access to the U.S. financial system

FinCEN alleged that MEXC Global processed approximately $1 billion in direct transfers involving more than 40 Iranian crypto exchanges between May 2021 and May 2026

FinCEN alleged that MEXC Global facilitated approximately $350,000 for sanctioned North Korean money launderer Sim Hyon Sop in 2025

Russia expanded cryptocurrency access under increasing pressure from Western financial sanctions that restricted the country's access to traditional international finance