KuCoin suspends services for users in Russia and Belarus over compliance concerns, while Russia establishes a self-regulatory organization for 23 crypto exchanges.

Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin announced that it was immediately suspending services for users in Russia and Belarus, citing legal and regulatory compliance requirements. Both countries are subject to international sanctions.

According to an announcement made on Thursday, KuCoin has suspended access to all products and services for users in these two markets. The exchange said it would implement an orderly market exit process, allowing users to withdraw their assets from the platform. In a post on X, KuCoin emphasized that regulatory compliance is central to its operations and guides decisions about where and how it provides services.

KuCoin’s decision, made by the Seychelles-headquartered exchange, comes as many crypto-asset businesses take steps to comply with international sanctions led by the US and Europe against Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine. For global exchanges, maintaining users in sanctioned markets increasingly entails significant legal risks, particularly when they seek to expand ties with banks and regulators in Western markets.

Russia builds a domestic regulatory framework

While international exchanges are pulling out, Russia is advancing a domestic crypto-asset regulatory system. Also on Thursday, the Bank of Russia approved the National Association of Securities Market Participants (NAUFOR) as a self-regulatory organization for crypto-asset exchanges and crypto-asset custody service providers.

The central bank’s registry currently includes 23 crypto-asset exchanges and 8 crypto-asset custodians. These entities are required to join a self-regulatory organization within 90 days.

The two developments on the same day reflect the increasingly clear fragmentation of the crypto-asset market. On one side, international exchanges are scaling back their presence to reduce sanctions-compliance risks. On the other, Russia is building its own infrastructure and oversight mechanisms for the domestic market. For Russian investors, the departure of global exchanges could gradually shift trading flows toward platforms listed in the central bank’s registry, which are directly supervised by the country’s regulators.