Russians banned from accessing Bitmex within European Union

Major cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX is working to increase compliance with the European sanctions against Russia by preparing to enforce major restrictions for its Russian users.

BitMEX is changing its restricted jurisdictions policy to be compliant with various restrictive measures of the European Union, Cointelegraph has learned.

The BitMEX crypto exchange notified a group of potentially affected users about the upcoming changes via email on Monday.

According to an email seen by Cointelegraph, Russian citizens or residents will no longer be able to access BitMEX services from the European Union after July 11, 2022. That means that such users will not be able to log into their account or access any services from the European Union, unless an “exception applies.”

The new restrictions do not apply to Russian citizens or residents accessing BitMEX services from the EU who are also residents in the EU or Switzerland. Dual citizens of the EU or Switzerland who reside outside Russia will also not be affected, the email notes.

“If you are a resident in the EU or Switzerland or a dual citizen of the EU or Switzerland and reside outside Russia, you may submit additional information to apply for an exemption and continue to access our Services from the EU,” the statement said.

The measure targets all types of traders, including persons trading on behalf of any legal persons, while they access BitMEX from the EU, as well as legal persons established in Russia, whose traders access the services from the EU.

The announcement doesn’t point to any impact on Russian customers accessing BitMEX services from Russia.

Related: Bank of Russia backs cross-border crypto payments vs. domestic trade

BitMEX’s latest restrictions against Russians in the EU arrived after a wave of major exchanges like Binance announced restrictions for Russian users. The majority of such restrictions came in the first two months after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the “special military operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24.