coindesk.comarticle

UK slaps sanctions on three crypto exchanges over alleged Russia links

The UK Foreign Office sanctioned crypto exchanges Cryptomus, Heleket and Certa Payments (all operated by Canadian-registered Xeltox Enterprises) plus Kyrgyzstan's TokenSpot and payment processors Processing KG (VexPay) and Tsunami Payments, as part of 38 new designations targeting Russia sanctions-evasion networks. Two of the sanctioned firms allegedly processed transactions tied to A7, a Kremlin-backed network whose ruble-pegged A7A5 stablecoin is used to bypass financial restrictions and which claims to have moved over $90 billion. The action follows earlier UK sanctions on Garantex and Grinex and complements US and EU actions against the same A7/A7A5 ecosystem.