The short answer: since September 2021 the United States has sanctioned at least ten crypto exchanges and three mixers, and the European Union has moved from no crypto listings at all to banning transactions with 14 platforms in a single package in July 2026. The targets have changed with the politics. The first wave in 2021 and 2022 hit Russian exchanges that handled ransomware money. Mixers came next. In 2026 Iran's largest exchanges were added with secondary sanctions attached, and the EU named HTX, one of the larger global exchanges, in its 21st Russia package.
This page is a tracker. For each action we log the date, who acted, who was listed, the stated reason and what it changed for ordinary users. Last full check: October 29, 2026. The full table is published as a free dataset at /data/crypto-sanctions.json.
One disclosure. We run CoinVast, a swap service, and we screen every deposit against sanctions lists before a swap starts. Anything that matches a sanctioned address is held and reported, because the law requires it. That is the one case where we do not return a deposit, so we follow these lists closely, and we think anyone moving crypto should understand them.
Crypto sanctions by the numbers
- September 21, 2021: the day Suex became the first crypto exchange the US Treasury ever sanctioned, for handling ransomware payments.
- 14: crypto platforms the EU named in one package on July 23, 2026, including HTX, EXMO, NoOnes and BitPapa.
- 4: Iranian exchanges sanctioned on June 2, 2026 (Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex), with secondary sanctions that put foreign exchanges dealing with them at risk too.
- 2 years and 7 months: how long Tornado Cash stayed on the US sanctions list before Treasury removed it in March 2025, after a federal appeals court ruled that its code could not be sanctioned as property.
- About $96 billion: what Garantex processed over its life by one analytics firm's estimate, despite being sanctioned by the US in April 2022. Its domains were seized in March 2025.
- November 25, 2025: the day the EU ban on any transaction involving A7A5, the ruble backed stablecoin, took effect for EU persons.
The tracker
Newest first. "Who acted" is the authority that took the step. OFAC is the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, FinCEN is the Treasury's financial crimes unit, and "EU" means the Council of the European Union.
| Date | Who acted | Listed | Why | What it changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 23, 2026 | EU (21st Russia package) | 14 crypto platforms, including HTX (Huobi Global SA), EXMO, Rapira, NoOnes, BitPapa, Exnode, WhiteBird, Aifory Pro, ABCeX, Tradex, Monease, PilotFinance, A7 Nigeria and A7 Africa | Used to move Russian funds around existing sanctions | EU persons may not do business with them; NoOnes closed within four weeks; a new power to ban crypto services from whole countries, not yet used |
| June 2, 2026 | OFAC | Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, Ramzinex and executives | Counter terrorism and Iran authorities; Nobitex moved stablecoins for Iran's central bank | Secondary sanctions: foreign exchanges and banks that keep dealing with them risk losing US access |
| January 30, 2026 | OFAC | Zedcex and Zedxion, two UK registered exchanges, and financier Babak Zanjani | Stablecoin flows for Iran's Revolutionary Guard | First US designation of exchanges for serving Iran's IRGC; six wallet addresses listed |
| October 23, 2025 | EU (19th Russia package) | A7A5 stablecoin and its issuer, Payeer, plus a ban on crypto services to anyone based in Russia | Sanctions evasion | From November 25, 2025, EU persons may not touch A7A5 at all; Payeer cut off users in Russia and the EU |
| October 2025 | FinCEN (Section 311 final rule) | Huione Group, Cambodia, including Huione Pay and Huione Crypto | Laundering for scam networks and North Korean hackers | From November 17, 2025, US banks may not keep correspondent accounts for Huione |
| August 14, 2025 | OFAC | Grinex, Garantex (again), A7A5 issuer Old Vector, A7 companies, Garantex executives | Garantex's successor and the ruble stablecoin network | Grinex, the platform Garantex users moved to, was cut off from US persons |
| March 21, 2025 | OFAC (removal) | Tornado Cash removed from the list | Followed the Fifth Circuit's November 2024 ruling | US persons may again use the protocol; the founders' criminal cases were not affected |
| March 6, 2025 | US Secret Service, Germany, Finland | Garantex domains and servers seized; an administrator arrested in India days later | Already sanctioned since 2022 | Garantex went offline; users lost access to balances |
| September 26, 2024 | OFAC and FinCEN | Cryptex and its operator Sergey Ivanov (OFAC); PM2BTC (FinCEN) | Ransomware and Russian illicit finance; Cryptex took in over $51.2 million from ransomware | US institutions barred from transfers involving PM2BTC; domains seized with Dutch police |
| November 29, 2023 | OFAC | Sinbad.io mixer | Laundering for North Korea's Lazarus Group | Sinbad was taken down in a coordinated operation the same week |
| January 18, 2023 | FinCEN (Section 9714 order) | Bitzlato, a Hong Kong exchange and P2P service | Russian illicit finance | First FinCEN order naming a crypto exchange a primary money laundering concern; its founder was arrested |
| November 8, 2022 | OFAC | Tornado Cash designated again, under North Korea authorities as well | Lazarus Group laundering | Replaced the August listing while the court fight continued |
| August 8, 2022 | OFAC | Tornado Cash | Over $7 billion laundered since 2019, by Treasury's count | First sanctions on a piece of open source software; its addresses were blocked across the industry |
| May 6, 2022 | OFAC | Blender.io mixer | Laundering for the Lazarus Group | First US sanctions on a crypto mixer |
| April 5, 2022 | OFAC | Garantex, alongside the Hydra darknet market | Russian ransomware and darknet funds; Garantex had handled over $100 million in illicit transactions | Garantex kept operating for three more years outside the US system |
| November 8, 2021 | OFAC | Chatex and three companies supporting it | Ransomware payments; support for Suex | Second exchange ever sanctioned |
| September 21, 2021 | OFAC | Suex OTC | Ransomware payments; over 40% of its known history linked to illicit actors | First crypto exchange ever sanctioned |
The four waves, in plain words
Ransomware cash out desks (2021 to 2022). Suex, Chatex and Garantex were exchanges that turned ransomware payments into cash. Sanctioning them cut them off from US persons and from any exchange that wanted to keep a US banking relationship. Garantex shows the limit of the tool: it kept trading for three years after its listing, until police seized its domains and servers in March 2025.
Mixers (2022 to 2025). Blender.io was the first mixer on the list, in May 2022. Tornado Cash followed in August 2022, which was different in kind, because Tornado Cash was not a company but a set of smart contracts on Ethereum. Six users sued. In November 2024 the Fifth Circuit ruled that immutable smart contracts are not property that can be blocked under US sanctions law, and Treasury removed Tornado Cash in March 2025. Sinbad.io, a custodial mixer with a team behind it, was listed and taken down in 2023, and that kind of listing stands.
Successors and stablecoins (2025). When Garantex fell, its users moved to Grinex, and a ruble backed stablecoin, A7A5, grew up around it. The US listed Grinex and the A7A5 issuer in August 2025. The EU went further in October 2025 and banned EU persons from any transaction involving A7A5, the first stablecoin it has banned outright, together with a ban on providing crypto services to people based in Russia.
Iran and the global exchanges (2026). In January 2026 OFAC listed two UK registered exchanges for clearing stablecoins for Iran's Revolutionary Guard. In June it listed Iran's four largest domestic exchanges, Nobitex among them, and attached secondary sanctions, which means a foreign exchange that keeps serving them can lose access to the US financial system. In July the EU's 21st package named 14 platforms that helped Russian money move, and the list was no longer only small regional desks: HTX, the former Huobi, was on it.
What a sanctions listing means for you
If you are a US person, you may not deal with a sanctioned exchange or its property, and that includes sending to or receiving from its listed addresses. If you are in the EU, the same applies to platforms under an EU transaction ban. Most users never meet these lists directly. They meet them through the exchanges and wallets that screen against them.
Coins carry their history. Every regulated exchange, and every swap service that screens, checks where incoming coins came from. Coins that passed through a sanctioned address, directly or within a few hops, get flagged. At a custodial exchange that usually means a frozen deposit and a request for documents. At a service that screens before the trade, like ours, a sanctions match is held and reported, and a deposit that fails other risk checks is returned to your refund address.
A platform closing is not the same as your coins being frozen. When NoOnes stopped trading after its EU listing, users could still withdraw. When Garantex was seized, they could not. The difference is whether the platform still controls the servers that hold the coins. If a platform you use appears on a list, withdraw first and read the details second.
Delisting is rare, but it happens. Tornado Cash is the only major crypto entry the US has removed, and it took a court ruling. Do not plan on a listing going away.
How to check whether an address or service is sanctioned
- Search OFAC's sanctions list. The US list, called the SDN list, includes crypto addresses for many entries. Its search tool at sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov finds names, and the full downloadable list includes the addresses.
- Check the EU's consolidated list. The EU publishes its sanctions in the Official Journal and keeps a searchable consolidated list. Transaction bans on platforms are part of the Russia packages.
- Look at what your wallet or exchange shows. Many wallets and exchanges warn when you paste a flagged address. Treat the warning as real.
- When you receive coins from someone new, ask where they came from. A screened service will check your deposit. It cannot undo where the coins have been.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which crypto exchanges are sanctioned by OFAC?
Among others: Suex (2021), Chatex (2021), Garantex (2022, listed again in 2025), Grinex (2025), Cryptex (2024), Zedcex and Zedxion (January 2026), and Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex (June 2026). FinCEN separately named Bitzlato (2023), PM2BTC (2024) and Huione Group (2025) as primary money laundering concerns, which cuts them off from US banks. Check OFAC's own list for the current entries, because the list changes.
Is Tornado Cash still sanctioned?
No. Treasury removed Tornado Cash from the US sanctions list on March 21, 2025, after the Fifth Circuit ruled in November 2024 that its immutable smart contracts were not property that could be blocked. A Texas court later ruled that OFAC cannot restore those sanctions. The criminal cases against its founders were separate and were not affected by the delisting.
Why did the EU sanction HTX?
The EU named HTX, operating as Huobi Global SA, among 14 crypto platforms in its 21st Russia sanctions package on July 23, 2026. The Council said the listed platforms served as conduits for Russian entities moving funds around existing sanctions. The listing is a transaction ban: EU persons and companies may not do business with them.
What is the A7A5 stablecoin and why is it banned?
A7A5 is a ruble backed stablecoin issued by Old Vector, a company in Kyrgyzstan, and tied to a network of companies the US and EU say helped Russia evade sanctions. The US sanctioned its issuer in August 2025. The EU banned EU persons from any transaction involving A7A5 from November 25, 2025.
What happens if I receive coins from a sanctioned address?
It depends on where you hold them. An exchange that screens deposits will usually freeze them and ask questions, and a sanctions match has to be held and reported under the law. Receiving coins you did not ask for is not the same as dealing with a sanctioned party, but keep a record and do not move them on without advice. On CoinVast, a deposit that matches a sanctions list is held and reported, and that is the one case where we do not return it.
Are Iranian crypto exchanges sanctioned?
Yes. OFAC listed Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex on June 2, 2026, with secondary sanctions attached, and earlier listed two UK registered exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, on January 30, 2026, for serving Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Foreign exchanges that keep processing transactions for the June listings risk losing access to the US financial system.
Can sanctions be applied to a decentralized protocol?
The Fifth Circuit said no for immutable smart contracts in the Tornado Cash case, ruling in November 2024 that code nobody owns or controls is not property that can be blocked under US law. The court did not decide whether the people or organisation behind a protocol can be sanctioned, and a mixer or service run by a company, like Sinbad.io, can be.
Cite this data
- Stable page URL: https://coinvast.io/articles/crypto-sanctions-tracker
- Machine readable dataset: /data/crypto-sanctions.json, one record per action with date, authority, legal basis, entities, stated reason, effect on users and source links. CORS is open.
- Last full check: October 29, 2026. The page and the JSON update together.
- Suggested citation: CoinVast, "Crypto Sanctions Tracker: Every Exchange and Mixer Listed," coinvast.io, October 29, 2026.
Sources and method
An action enters this tracker when the US Treasury (OFAC or FinCEN) or the Council of the European Union lists a crypto exchange, mixer, payment platform or stablecoin, removes one, or when police take down a platform already under sanctions. We use OFAC's recent actions pages, FinCEN's releases and the Federal Register, and the EU's own announcements, together with blockchain analytics firms' write ups of the same actions, each linked in the dataset. Figures such as amounts laundered come from the authority's release where it gives one, and from the named analytics firm where it does not. This page is not legal advice.
The other trackers
- P2P crypto platforms tracker: which peer to peer platforms are still open, including the closure of NoOnes after its EU listing.
- Crypto exchange fines tracker: anti money laundering penalties against exchanges, including OFAC's civil penalties on Kraken, Poloniex and Bittrex.
- Exchange frozen funds tracker: freezes by policy rather than theft, with how long each type usually lasts.
- Exchange hack tracker 2026: major exchange hacks, many of them by the same North Korean groups these sanctions target.