KuCoin Ends Russia and Belarus Services After Bitget and MEXC

KuCoin closed access to all of its products, services and features for users in Russia and Belarus on Oct. 29, 2026, effective immediately, according to Blockonomi. The exchange said it will run an orderly process rather than a hard cut-off, giving affected account holders instructions for closing positions and withdrawing assets.

KuCoin pointed to applicable legal and regulatory requirements as the reason but did not identify a specific sanctions designation, licensing condition or regulator’s instruction. It also did not disclose how many accounts are affected or how much those users hold.

Key facts

• KuCoin’s notice is dated Oct. 29, 2026, and the suspension covers Russia and Belarus with immediate effect.
• Affected customers receive individual account notices with their own deadlines and instructions; users without a notice were told they need not act.
• MEXC said on Oct. 20 it would end services in both countries as part of global compliance efforts, and Bitget updated its terms on Oct. 16 to list Russia and Belarus as prohibited jurisdictions.
• Crypto Briefing reported that KuCoin ranks eighth on CoinMarketCap, serves about 45 million users worldwide and handles nearly $1.2 billion in daily trading volume, and that KCS traded at $7.34, down 2.6% over 24 hours, as of Oct. 29.
• The European Union’s 21st sanctions package, adopted July 23, extended transaction bans to 14 crypto-related platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus.

How KuCoin described the exit

In a Thursday notice and an accompanying post on X, KuCoin said compliance guides its decisions on where and how it offers services, per Cointelegraph. The exchange directed customers with questions about their status to support and warned them to use only official channels because of phishing risk. Accounts without a notice remain subject to KuCoin’s terms of use and any applicable restrictions.

The Seychelles-headquartered exchange has withdrawn from a major market before. In January 2025, its operating company Peken Global Limited pleaded guilty in the US to running an unlicensed money-transmitting business, agreed to pay more than $297 million and to withdraw from the US market for at least two years; co-founders Chun Gan and Ke Tang agreed to step away from managing the exchange. Crypto Briefing described the same episode as a $300 million settlement with US authorities. Cointelegraph reported that KuCoin is headquartered in the Seychelles.

Bitget, MEXC and the European measures

KuCoin is the third major platform this month to pull back from the region, following Bitget and MEXC. Bitget characterised its closures of certain accounts as a one-off exercise and said the platform would keep operating; MEXC told users their assets were safe and that staff would never request payments, credentials or seed phrases through private messages.

The exits arrived after the Council of the European Union adopted its 21st sanctions package on July 23. That package banned transactions with 14 crypto-related platforms in six jurisdictions and created the option of a full ban on crypto services from third countries that help Russia evade EU sanctions. KuCoin’s notice does not cite the package as its reason.

Why it matters

The immediate effect falls on Russia- and Belarus-based users who still hold balances or open positions on KuCoin. Because there is no single published deadline, the burden sits with each account holder to read a personal notice and act before it lapses. The sequence of Bitget, MEXC and now KuCoin shows that international sanctions are reshaping which exchanges serve which markets, not just how they screen individual customers.

What to watch

The next concrete data point is the flow of account-specific notices and the deadlines inside them, which will show how much time affected users have to move funds. Separately, Cointelegraph reported that Russia’s central bank on the same day approved NAUFOR as a self-regulatory body for crypto exchanges and custodians, with a registry of 23 crypto exchanges and eight digital custody institutions whose members must join within 90 days.

This article is not financial advice, and crypto markets are volatile and uncertain.

Disclaimer: This article is for information only and is not investment, financial or trading advice. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile. Always do your own research.

Sources: Blockonomi, Crypto Briefing, Cointelegraph