KuCoin Is Third Major Exchange in October to Halt Services for Users in Russia and Belarus
Key Facts
KuCoin said it was immediately halting services for users in Russia and Belarus, a move that covers access to all its products, services and features, according to a company notice. The exchange said the decision was in line with the legal and regulatory requirements applicable to it. KuCoin did not name a specific sanction or regulation behind the decision, CoinDesk reported. The company also did not link the move to specific Western sanctions or say that maintaining access to the global financial system was a reason for it. The decision directly restricts affected customers’ use of the services, but does not by itself establish that KuCoin is withdrawing from the market in a broader sense.
KuCoin said users covered by the decision would receive a notice setting out the deadlines and instructions needed to close their positions and withdraw their assets. The company said the notice would specify the deadline and required steps for each affected account. Users who do not receive a notice do not need to take action, according to the exchange. KuCoin did not disclose how many customers would be affected, CoinDesk reported. The scope of covered accounts will therefore become clear through the individual notices the company sends, while the number of affected users remains undisclosed.
The move follows similar steps by other exchanges during October. MEXC announced on October 20, 2026, that it was halting services for users in Russia or Belarus, saying the measure was part of efforts to strengthen global compliance. The exchange said affected users would receive individual notices explaining the deadlines and steps needed to close positions and withdraw assets. Bitget added Russia and Belarus to its list of restricted regions, alongside Kazakhstan. The exchange began barring affected users from opening new trades and using new products on October 18, according to The Moscow Times.
With KuCoin’s announcement, it became the third major exchange to announce restrictions on users in Russia and Belarus during October, after Bitget and MEXC, The Moscow Times reported. The measures give holders of affected accounts specific deadlines to close positions and withdraw assets, with implementation varying from one exchange to another. In KuCoin’s case, the company said affected accounts would be notified of the relevant instructions and deadlines, and it did not publish the number of accounts covered. According to data cited by the newspaper, KuCoin ranks eighth in CoinMarketCap’s exchange rankings, with daily trading volume of about $1.2 billion. The company says its user base includes about 45 million people.
The exchanges’ decisions form part of a broader context of financial restrictions related to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. CoinDesk said Western governments have since imposed sanctions targeting Russian financial institutions and transactions. Some restrictions have included cryptocurrency platforms alleged to have helped sanctioned entities move money. KuCoin announced in September that it does not directly or indirectly process transactions involving entities on its sanctions lists or restricted parties. Its announcement cited the lists of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and said it does not provide services or products to entities prohibited under applicable laws and regulations.
In a broader explanation of the exchanges’ moves, an analyst at BestChange linked the withdrawals to rising compliance costs and secondary-sanctions risks, according to The Moscow Times. This remains an explanation offered by the analyst for the context, not a reason KuCoin announced for its decision. The exchange referred only to the applicable legal and regulatory requirements without naming specific rules. In its announcement, the company did not set a single general date for account closures, saying instead that affected users would individually receive the necessary deadlines and instructions. The next step for each user will therefore depend on the KuCoin notice informing them what is required to close their positions and withdraw their assets.