KuCoin cut off users in Russia and Belarus on Thursday, the exchange announced, without publishing a date by which those customers must move their funds.

KuCoin said in its notice that it “will discontinue services for users in Russia and Belarus effective immediately,” and that the shutdown “will comprehensively cover access to all KuCoin products, services, and features.” The notice pointed to “applicable legal and regulatory requirements” but did not name a specific rule or sanctions measure.

Customers whose accounts are affected “will receive a notification with the relevant deadlines and instructions for orderly closure,” KuCoin said in the announcement, adding that it intends to let them “close positions and withdraw their assets.” Users who get no such message need to do nothing, the company said. KuCoin did not say how many accounts or how much in assets the move touches.

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Russia Names a Crypto Self-Regulator

Crypto exchange operators and digital depositories on the Bank of Russia’s registers have 90 days to join a self-regulatory organization, the central bank said Thursday, as it entered the first such body for those firms in its register of self-regulators. Neither KuCoin, the Bank of Russia nor NAUFOR connected the two announcements.

Membership is mandatory under Federal Law No. 282-FZ of Aug. 4, Russia’s law on digital currencies and digital rights, which took effect Sept. 1. Sberbank is among the firms the central bank has since added to both registers.

The new self-regulator is the National Association of Securities Market Participants, or NAUFOR, which said the Bank of Russia granted it the status on Oct. 29. In that role, NAUFOR said, it will help write industry standards, check that firms meet them and represent the sector to the Bank of Russia as laws and regulations are reworked.

A securities-industry group since 1996 with 725 members, NAUFOR was already a self-regulator for operators of digital financial asset platforms, and seven of those operators have joined.

What Russian Users Are Left With

For crypto users in Russia, Thursday leaves one fewer large offshore exchange to trade on and a domestic market whose registered firms now have 90 days to join an industry self-regulator. KuCoin customers there will learn how long they have to get their assets out only from the notice the exchange sends them, since no deadline has been posted publicly.

KuCoin is at least the third offshore exchange to pull back from Russia this month. MEXC said on Oct. 20 that users in Russia and Belarus would lose service, and Bitget cut off clients in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan starting Oct. 21, Interfax reported.

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