The European Union is finalising a 20th sanctions package that seeks to ban all cryptocurrency transactions with Russia in an effort to close loopholes officials say have enabled sanctions evasion.
The proposed measures would go beyond targeting individual crypto asset service providers and instead prohibit engagement with any platform established in Russia that allows the transfer or exchange of digital assets.
“Any further listing of individual crypto asset service providers… is therefore likely to result in the set-up of new ones to circumvent those listings,”
According to an internal European Commission document cited by the Financial Times.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the package would also target 20 additional Russian regional banks and several foreign lenders, including institutions in Kyrgyzstan, Laos and Tajikistan, if approved.
The sanctions may extend to Russia-linked payments platform A7 and its ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5, which grew into one of the largest non-dollar stablecoins in 2025, and following the announcement the euro was unchanged against the dollar at $XX.
“The EU’s recent move to impose a blanket ban on Russian crypto activity — specifically targeting the A7A5 stablecoin — highlights a fundamental misunderstanding of decentralised liquidity,”
Said Global Ledger co-founder and CEO Lex Fisun.
Fisun argued that tokens can be swapped through autonomous onchain liquidity pools without centralised intermediaries, making a complete technical blockade unlikely even as Russia advances domestic legislation to freeze and confiscate digital assets.