Week of June 1-5, 2026: UK sanctions HTX and EXMO, India raids Parimatch, and major exchanges tighten AML filters

The first week of June brought the sort of news high-risk PSPs actually need to read: sanctions, raids, tighter ad rules, and market-side de-risking. The common thread is simple enough — payment flows are now the thing regulators, banks, and exchanges are targeting first.

1. United Kingdom: sanctions were imposed on crypto exchanges HTX (Huobi) and EXMO over links to Russia. The list also includes Rapira, Bitpapa, Eurasian Savings Bank, and Garantex founder Sergey Mendeleev. The measures cover asset freezes, a ban on business relationships, and restrictions on international operations.
2. United Kingdom: the government created a special task force to fight illegal gambling under a 12-month DCMS pilot. Its stated priority is blocking payment flows between players and “grey” gambling sites, which is the part that usually matters most to PSPs and acquirers.
3. Belgium: Wise Europe came under investigation on suspicion of laundering €500 million through the platform, with reported KYC/AML shortcomings. The shares fell as much as 20% intraday.
4. India: Parimatch faced raids at 17 locations, with about $162,000 seized and about $395,000 frozen. The total value of restrictions was put at $11.65 million, with the scheme reportedly running through IT company accounts and payment agents.
5. Market response: large exchanges including Bybit, Binance, OKX, and Bitget tightened AML filtering after the HTX sanctions, with automatic rejection of transactions carrying “sanctions” tags. HTX is also reported to hold more than $100 million in stablecoins, so the practical risk here is freeze exposure if OFAC steps in or if Tether follows the Garantex precedent.

There was also broader policy movement in several jurisdictions: Brazil’s President Lula backed tighter online bookmaker advertising rules and a possible full ban on online betting; Bangladesh is considering reform of the Public Gambling Act 1867; and in the US, Donald Trump said he supports prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, while CFTC should keep exclusive authority and states should not create local barriers.

June’s event calendar is crowded as usual: Istanbul Blockchain Week runs June 2-3 in Istanbul, Money 20/20 Europe June 2-4 in Amsterdam, SBC Summit Americas June 9-11 in Florida, iFX Expo Cyprus June 16-18 in Limassol, Unchain Festival June 17-18 in Oradea, Romania, and Web3 Summit June 18-19 in Berlin.