MEXC and Bitget end their services in Russia and Belarus.

[Coin_info]

MEXC and Bitget end their services in Russia and Belarus to comply with regulatory requirements

MEXC said Tuesday it would stop serving users in both countries to comply with international regulatory requirements. Affected customers will receive individual notices setting deadlines for closing trading positions and withdrawing their cryptocurrency.

The announcement follows similar restrictions by Bitget, which added Russia and Belarus to its list of prohibited jurisdictions alongside Kazakhstan.
Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at cryptocurrency exchange comparison service BestChange, told the RBC news website that the threat of secondary sanctions and rising compliance costs were making Russian customers increasingly risky for international exchanges.

Earlier this year, the EU sanctioned HTX for allegedly helping Russians evade sanctions and barring EU companies from conducting transactions with the exchange.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/20/crypto-exchanges-bitget-mexc-end-services-for-customers-in-russia-and-belarus-a94035

Which exchange will follow?

[OcTradism]

MEXC and Bitget end their services in Russia and Belarus to comply with regulatory requirements

MEXC said Tuesday it would stop serving users in both countries to comply with international regulatory requirements. Affected customers will receive individual notices setting deadlines for closing trading positions and withdrawing their cryptocurrency.

If they saw that change is needed and good for their business, they did a right thing for their business safety and success but I don't know big reasons they do that because in years, many centralized exchanges did not comply with USA regulatory requirements before some big exchanges got sanctions from the USA.

Which exchange will follow?

I don't know but we will know soon with time. I feel like Russia and Belarus don't have enough both soft and hard powers to force cryptocurrency centralized exchanges changing their ToS to comply with regulatory in these nations. They're not the USA and they are not able to do massive sanctions like the USA or European nations in EU.

It's not too clear why MEXC and Bitget too quickly with changing ToS and complying with new regulatory requirements in Russia and Belarus.

[Oshosondy]

I was thinking this is going to happen. Russians are allowed to opens account on several exchanges and P2P is available for Russians on the exchanges. Since when I posted a topic about how Russia banned P2P transactions, I know this will be coming. But this are exchanges, nothing can be able to stop P2P.

[ultrloa]

I don't know but we will know soon with time. I feel like Russia and Belarus don't have enough both soft and hard powers to force cryptocurrency centralized exchanges changing their ToS to comply with regulatory in these nations. They're not the USA and they are not able to do massive sanctions like the USA or European nations in EU.

It's not too clear why MEXC and Bitget too quickly with changing ToS and complying with new regulatory requirements in Russia and Belarus.

They immediately comply, because they might face much heavier penalties and many more issues if they ignore the sanction.

Also I think complying might cost a lot from them, that's why maybe they just choose to end up their operation in said countries.

MEXC and Bitget just comply, because they probably know that they are the one will suffer and receive much big fines either in EU or US.

I think what they just did is for survival, they avoid those countries imposing strict restriction with unregulated platforms in their jurisdiction.

[RGBTC]

many centralized exchanges did not comply with USA regulatory requirements before some big exchanges got sanctions from the USA.

Because crypto adoption has now reached a class of institutions , and global policies under uniform standards are set to be able to limit transaction and supply chains down to the country scale. Plus those new regulatory regime are an effective tool for geopolitical interests.

I don't know but we will know soon with time. I feel like Russia and Belarus don't have enough both soft and hard powers to force cryptocurrency centralized exchanges changing their ToS to comply with regulatory in these nations.

Of course, Russia would need to surpass the western countries combined as the largest consumer market and that would be impossible.

[X-ray]

I don't know but we will know soon with time. I feel like Russia and Belarus don't have enough both soft and hard powers to force cryptocurrency centralized exchanges changing their ToS to comply with regulatory in these nations. They're not the USA and they are not able to do massive sanctions like the USA or European nations in EU.

It's not too clear why MEXC and Bitget too quickly with changing ToS and complying with new regulatory requirements in Russia and Belarus.

They immediately comply, because they might face much heavier penalties and many more issues if they ignore the sanction.

Also I think complying might cost a lot from them, that's why maybe they just choose to end up their operation in said countries.

MEXC and Bitget just comply, because they probably know that they are the one will suffer and receive much big fines either in EU or US.

I think what they just did is for survival, they avoid those countries imposing strict restriction with unregulated platforms in their jurisdiction.

Exactly, it's not about whether they can't comply or not, it's about risk of secondary sanctions by complying.

If they complied, they'd probably face heightened scrutiny, just like HTX and others.

I mean just look at HTX which allegedly helped bypassing the sanction, they're still being sanctioned to this day.

Bitget as far as I know, can't risk it. Rarely heard about MEXC.

[goldkingcoiner]

MEXC and Bitget end their services in Russia and Belarus to comply with regulatory requirements

MEXC said Tuesday it would stop serving users in both countries to comply with international regulatory requirements. Affected customers will receive individual notices setting deadlines for closing trading positions and withdrawing their cryptocurrency.

The announcement follows similar restrictions by Bitget, which added Russia and Belarus to its list of prohibited jurisdictions alongside Kazakhstan.
Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at cryptocurrency exchange comparison service BestChange, told the RBC news website that the threat of secondary sanctions and rising compliance costs were making Russian customers increasingly risky for international exchanges.

Earlier this year, the EU sanctioned HTX for allegedly helping Russians evade sanctions and barring EU companies from conducting transactions with the exchange.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/20/crypto-exchanges-bitget-mexc-end-services-for-customers-in-russia-and-belarus-a94035

Which exchange will follow?

Interesting.

What exactly changed? Also, they seem to be the only ones out of a already minority of services closing their doors in those countries. I understand there is a tough political situation going on and that there are international sanctions aimed at Russia and anyone who partners or helps Russia. But it is a bit strange that they would pick now of all times to lay down these announcements. Perhaps it is because of the Russian government recently declaring that Russians are not allowed to self-custody their cryptocurrency?

[Peanutswar]

So basically the government right now are into awareness with these crypto platforms operating in their country so its part now if their requirement is to comply with the MiCA and unfortunately what ive read previously is they can't even comply yet with the requirement which is reason for a possible temporary not operating which is as per decided like with the both exchange is to stop operating their services into these country but if ever they are willing to comply I guess they can resolve this issue.

For the next exchange? No one knows yet but there is a higher likelihood chance that other operating exchange that has no license will be raise a warning to comply or else ended up the same story.

[pooya87]

told the RBC news website that the threat of secondary sanctions and rising compliance costs were making Russian customers increasingly risky for international exchanges.

That's not international though that is only Western sanctions (read economic terrorism) that these centralized exchanges are complying with which only clarifies which bloc they belong with and also it highlights the dangers of centralized exchanges once more. Although in this case they claim to have given time to the users to withdraw, there has been other case where the CEX just stole the users' funds (eg. Bittrex), just like that...

[greysonz]

told the RBC news website that the threat of secondary sanctions and rising compliance costs were making Russian customers increasingly risky for international exchanges.

That's not international though that is only Western sanctions (read economic terrorism) that these centralized exchanges are complying with which only clarifies which bloc they belong with and also it highlights the dangers of centralized exchanges once more. Although in this case they claim to have given time to the users to withdraw, there has been other case where the CEX just stole the users' funds (eg. Bittrex), just like that...

I was a bit surprised that centralized exchanges usually block access in Russia or other CIS countries only after a Western or European sanctions package. And right now, no public sanctions have been released. Well, if exchanges are so afraid of the West, then let them lose this huge part of the audience. There are still quite a few exchanges left - Bybit perfectly takes on all the main functions, so Bitget and MEXC can go to all four sides. I also want to note that there were cases when, after sanctions, an exchange publicly left the country, but in reality quietly continued to work for the citizens of this country. And while this is unlikely to happen in Bitget, there is a chance of such a hidden continuation of work in MEXC.

[Lontor]

They need to comply or face bigger consequences, to safe their businesses they did the right thing, I remember a news on here about Russia putting an end to crypto exchanges trading unless russians uses a regulated exchange directed by the country itself.

I thought I read something like this in here days ago? Was it not Russia? Anyways, there is no turning back and things can still get nastier than it is right now, crypto exchanges aren't or shouldn't be the best way to trade crypto in the first place.

There should have been a way that anyone anywhere in the world can trade without going through any licensed and centralised platfroms, I don't know what developers in this space are doing, Satoshi did Bitcoin why haven't we had a P2P platform that's better than what we have.

[tabas]

Wouldn't this news is appropriate on the Exchanges?

For the next exchange? No one knows yet but there is a higher likelihood chance that other operating exchange that has no license will be raise a warning to comply or else ended up the same story.

These two exchanges are considered next to the big ones and they're undeniable quite big. So, it's likely that the next ones would be the next into their ranks. Probably going to be ending up with the same situation as theirs. If it's not going to be bybit and okx then the tier 2's. AFAIK, these two have complied to their rules.

[alani123]

If an exchange doesn't enforce KYC how can it truly block any country? It's pretty obvious these two exchanged just cafe to virtue signal, probably in an attempt to get in the good side of EU regulators from where they had a lot of customers.

I was a happy user of MEXC before they themselves decided to cut my access due to MiCA. I never once complained about the usage of their exchange by russian or Belarusian people. It was my last concern in the world. But if you cut off my access voluntarily of course it affects your image in my eyes more. They had one servicr to offer and it wasn't politics.

Binance has kept working in the EU despite not having a MiCA license:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5592904.0

They kept service uninterrupted for existing client.s

[hosemary]

If an exchange doesn't enforce KYC how can it truly block any country? It's pretty obvious these two exchanged just cafe to virtue signal, probably in an attempt to get in the good side of EU regulators from where they had a lot of customers.

KYC is mandatory on both MEXC and Bitget.
Bitget announced mandatory KYC on September 30, 2023, and MEXC did so on February 5 this year.

Bitget's announcement: Bitget updates identity verification
MEXC's announcement: KYC Verification Required for Platform Access

[Japinat]

I was thinking this is going to happen. Russians are allowed to opens account on several exchanges and P2P is available for Russians on the exchanges. Since when I posted a topic about how Russia banned P2P transactions, I know this will be coming. But this are exchanges, nothing can be able to stop P2P.

I think its not Russia that is responsible for their withdrawal of services, its the international sanctions against Russia that made them stop, if i understand this right they don't want to continue offering services in Russia as their business would be at risk, especially from the governments of the US and UK.

[pooya87]

Well, if exchanges are so afraid of the West, then let them lose this huge part of the audience.

I don't know what the actual case was here but I can tell you that sometimes it is not that they are afraid of the West for no reason. It is more like they are directly targeted and Western regimes start putting pressure on these companies to join their destabilization/cold war against other nations.

For example some years ago the US regime put pressure on Github to limit Iranian accounts!!! Github of all places.

These things are meant to continue putting pressure on the average citizen of countries that do not bow down to the Epstein Axis so that those citizens get more unsatisfied and start an unrest back home so that the Epstein Axis can use it to extort the government of that country and maybe even force them to bow down to the Evil Axis!

This case is most probably the same specially considering the timing of it. Recently the Russians started placing crazy limitations on their crypto traders targeting self-custody and P2P trades. Something that would obviously push Russians to use foreign exchanges... foreign exchanges that suddenly decided to ban them to comply with Western sanctions on Russia; sanctions that were imposed 4-5 years ago and they are just remembering to ban them now!!!

[lovesmayfamilis]

I was thinking this is going to happen. Russians are allowed to opens account on several exchanges and P2P is available for Russians on the exchanges. Since when I posted a topic about how Russia banned P2P transactions, I know this will be coming. But this are exchanges, nothing can be able to stop P2P.

I think its not Russia that is responsible for their withdrawal of services, its the international sanctions against Russia that made them stop, if i understand this right they don't want to continue offering services in Russia as their business would be at risk, especially from the governments of the US and UK.

 it seems like it's "beneficial" to work both ways. In Russia, control over people who own cryptocurrencies is becoming more and more stringent, so disrespectful of human rights that the ban on Russians having accounts on these exchanges seems to help comply with Russian legislation. Is there a way out for citizens? I think many people have long decided or are already deciding to change their place of residence to a more free country, and it seems that this is the most profitable choice.

[BlackBoss_]

it seems like it's "beneficial" to work both ways. In Russia, control over people who own cryptocurrencies is becoming more and more stringent, so disrespectful of human rights that the ban on Russians having accounts on these exchanges seems to help comply with Russian legislation. Is there a way out for citizens? I think many people have long decided or are already deciding to change their place of residence to a more free country, and it seems that this is the most profitable choice.

It is a tough life and people have to deal with it in their own hard way. Changing place of residence is easy but it is not always easy for people from a nation move to other nations. It can require valid visa even for temporary work permit before upgrading it to permanent resident or citizenship.

It is a very long time and challenging journey and not all people and family are able to do this. As a person who is not a Russian, I can feel how Putin has made many things worse in this nation.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

I was thinking this is going to happen. Russians are allowed to opens account on several exchanges and P2P is available for Russians on the exchanges. Since when I posted a topic about how Russia banned P2P transactions, I know this will be coming. But this are exchanges, nothing can be able to stop P2P.

I think its not Russia that is responsible for their withdrawal of services, its the international sanctions against Russia that made them stop, if i understand this right they don't want to continue offering services in Russia as their business would be at risk, especially from the governments of the US and UK.

You are right, according to MEXC announcement which says their reason for stopping their service in both country is to enhance global compliance, it doesn't point to Russian or Belarusian government policy as the main reason that is forcing them to leave, if it was just the policy of both country, I think they would have complied so as to maintain the large number of customers they are getting in both country but they have also weighed the risk and reward and clearly the international sanction they might be facing will outweigh the reward of continuing there service in those country.

[Cryptomultiplier]

I was thinking this is going to happen. Russians are allowed to opens account on several exchanges and P2P is available for Russians on the exchanges. Since when I posted a topic about how Russia banned P2P transactions, I know this will be coming. But this are exchanges, nothing can be able to stop P2P.

I think its not Russia that is responsible for their withdrawal of services, its the international sanctions against Russia that made them stop, if i understand this right they don't want to continue offering services in Russia as their business would be at risk, especially from the governments of the US and UK.

You are right, according to MEXC announcement which says their reason for stopping their service in both country is to enhance global compliance, it doesn't point to Russian or Belarusian government policy as the main reason that is forcing them to leave, if it was just the policy of both country, I think they would have complied so as to maintain the large number of customers they are getting in both country but they have also weighed the risk and reward and clearly the international sanction they might be facing will outweigh the reward of continuing there service in those country.

It's of course secondary sanctions in the EU region that much more bigger than internal regulations that's causing this. It just so happens that Russia and Belarus falls within this region.

The pro of this news is that users would have to seek alternatives in P2P tools and have to get now accustomed to using core decentralization for their trades or investments with this approach instead of trusting or using the service of any other CEX services out there.