European Union governments have approved a new sanctions package against Russia that expands pressure on the country’s access to crypto services. The 21st package, agreed on Thursday, targets 11 crypto platforms, most of them based outside Russia, alongside 94 Russian banks and the Moscow Exchange.

Officials have not identified the affected crypto platforms. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain legal to own and trade, but the latest measures are intended to make access to services harder for Russian users and businesses linked to sanctioned activity.

A broader sanctions approach

The new package marks another step in how the EU is approaching Russian crypto activity. Earlier measures moved from naming individual firms to restricting Russia’s wider crypto sector, and the latest action extends that pressure to platforms located in other countries where Russian users may seek alternatives.

According to the source article, the shift reflects a recurring pattern: when one service is shut down, another appears in its place. The latest package is described as going further by allowing the EU, for the first time, to ban crypto services across entire countries outside Europe if they become a route for Russian users.

Why crypto remains in focus

EU officials have argued that crypto continues to offer financial channels that can support Russia’s economy despite sanctions. Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the new measures are aimed at Russia’s financial system and other sectors that sustain what she called the country’s war economy.

The source article points to Garantex as an example of why authorities keep tightening restrictions. The Russian exchange was sanctioned by the United States in 2022, and the EU followed in early 2025. In March 2025, police seized its website and froze more than $26 million, but its team allegedly returned within days with a near-identical platform called Grinex.

It also cites blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, which said that the ruble-linked coin A7A5 moved more than $100 billion in a single year. That scale, according to the article, has strengthened the case for broader action beyond exchanges physically based in Russia.

What it means for Russian crypto users

The sanctions do not outlaw private ownership of Bitcoin or other coins. Users can still hold assets and trade them, and coins kept in self-custodied wallets are not themselves banned under the measures described in the source.

The practical impact is expected to fall on access points such as exchanges and transfer services. Large platforms operating under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, or MiCA, are required to conduct checks on the source of funds and block users connected to sanctions. The article says some accounts had already been frozen after deposits were traced to A7A5.

It also suggests Russian users may face higher fees, slower transfers and fewer listed coins as platforms tighten compliance. Previous sanctions rounds had already left some Russian-linked crypto assets difficult to move or access.

Russia’s response and the next test

Russia has been building alternative channels of its own. The source article says the country now permits crypto use in foreign trade and is creating licensed exchanges under a new crypto law.

That may provide domestic workarounds, but it could also deepen Russia’s separation from international markets. The immediate unanswered issue is enforcement: the EU has approved the package, but officials have not yet named the 11 crypto platforms, and the effectiveness of the new restrictions will depend on how broadly and consistently they are applied.

Source: beincrypto.com