The major crypto exchange BitMEX is striving for stricter compliance with financial sanctions against Russia, which is why the trading platform now excludes certain Russian users.
As Cointelegraph has learned, BitMEX has accordingly asserted new restrictions for the area of the European Union (EU).
Already on Monday, the crypto exchange sent emails to potentially affected users to inform them about the upcoming changes.
According to an e-mail that could be viewed by Cointelegraph, Russian citizens and Russian residents will no longer be able to access BitMEX from within the EU as of July 11, 2022. If no “exceptions” apply, the respective users can no longer log into their BitMEX accounts and also no longer use any services of the platform.
These exceptions include, among other things, Russian citizens and residents within the EU who are residents of the EU or Switzerland. Even users with dual citizenship in Russia and the EU or Switzerland, who live outside of Russia, may continue to access the crypto exchange.
“If you are a resident of the EU or Switzerland, or a dual citizen in the EU or Switzerland who lives outside of Russia, then you can transfer this information to us in order to be covered by the exemption and continue to be able to access from the EU,” as the e-mail explains.
The restrictive measure applies to all types of crypto traders, whether Russian private investors who dial in via the EU on BitMEX, or companies from Russia that offer their services within the EU.
However, the e-mail does not contain any information about how to deal with Russian users who access BitMEX directly from Russia.
BitMEX’s actions against Russian users within the EU come after other crypto exchanges such as Binance have previously taken similar steps against Russians. However, most of them came within the first two months after the start of the Ukraine conflict.
