Reports have emerged online, with authors claiming that the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has frozen the accounts of several Russian traders. The largest of the blocked deposits is 500,000 USDT, which is about 47.5 million rubles. According to the Telegram channel 'Baza', at least 10 people have already consulted lawyers.

All affected, according to reports, are professional market participants. Before sending money to the exchange, they checked funds through AML services. It is unclear why they were blocked. The BeInCrypto editorial team reached out to Bybit representatives for a comment on the situation. We will tell you what came of it.

The exchange's position

The BeInCrypto editorial team wrote to Bybit support. The first response was unexpected: Russians are not allowed to work on the exchange — this is required by the regulator.

'If you are from Russia, registration and trading on Bybit is prohibited,' the bot's response states.

At the same time, Russia is not listed among the restricted jurisdictions, but there is a ban that applies to 'regions of Ukraine under Russian control (currently including Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions), Sevastopol.'

Later, an operator joined the dialogue. According to him, accusations against the exchange for blocking Russian accounts are false. The operator also noted that the exchange's policy towards users from Russia has not changed.

When asked to comment on the bot's first response, the operator replied that the AI made a mistake.

In December 2022, the Singapore regulator MAS required crypto exchanges to comply with anti-Russian sanctions. Bybit then refused — and became one of the few major platforms that did not close access for Russians. In a comment to BeInCrypto, the exchange stated directly: 'We maintain loyalty to all users, without account blocking.'

Since then, much has changed. In August 2023, Bybit removed Sberbank and Tinkoff from the P2P maps. In January 2026, it introduced a fee of up to 0.3% for those buying crypto for rubles. Each time this was presented as a technical moment — but step by step, the conditions for Russians became worse.

At the same time, Russia remained one of the main markets for the exchange: in the fall of 2025, about 29% of all Bybit traffic came from Russia. For comparison, South Korea accounts for about 10%, and Ukraine — 8%.

Amazing timing

At the end of February 2026, the Bank of Russia stated: foreign crypto exchanges will only be able to operate in the country if they open a subsidiary in Russia. New requirements, according to concerns from industry participants, may provoke another wave of blocking Russians.

Reports of account blocking for Russian users and bot messages, which the support service calls an error, remarkably coincide with Russia's plans to 'ground' crypto exchanges.

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