Bitget will apply enhanced compliance controls to transactions involving 16 named entities, the exchange said in an official announcement posted August 15, 2026. The controls roll out in three waves and trace back to recent US and EU sanctions actions. Any transaction that touches a flagged entity, directly or indirectly, may be reviewed, rejected, or lead to account restrictions.
The move puts Bitget in step with Binance, which is applying staggered restrictions on the same platforms. It reads less like a one-off policy and more like a coordinated exchange response to sanctions pressure from Western regulators.
The three-wave rollout
Bitget grouped the entities by effective date. The first wave took effect August 7 and covered Aban Tether Exchange and Shelbit, both tied to an OFAC designation over Iran-linked sanctions evasion, including transfers connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The second wave, effective August 13, added A7 Africa, A7 Nigeria, and PilotFinance. The largest group lands August 23 and includes ABCeX, Aifory Pro, BitPapa, EXMO, Exnode and Exnode Pay, HTX (operating as Huobi Global SA), Monease, NoOnecrypto, Rapira, Tradex, and WhiteBird. HTX and EXMO fall under the EU's 21st Russia sanctions package, which cited suspected facilitation of Russia-linked financial flows.
HTX pushed back on the scope. Justin Sun said the restrictions concern only certain UK and EU users and that HTX does not do business in either market, adding that settlement talks are ongoing. That dispute does not change what Bitget has published for its own users.
The consequences Bitget spelled out
The exchange was direct about outcomes. Transactions involving these entities "may face enhanced compliance controls, rejection, account restriction during review, or account termination for terms-of-use breaches." Bitget urged users to check that transaction sources, originating addresses, and intermediary providers have no links to the named entities.
The indirect-exposure clause is the part worth reading twice. A deposit that passed through one of these platforms before reaching Bitget could get caught in review even if the user never dealt with the entity directly. Anyone moving funds between exchanges should confirm where those funds originated.
The angle for card users
The Bitget Card funds from a Bitget account balance, so account-level compliance controls sit upstream of every swipe. If a deposit is frozen during review or an account is restricted, the card loses its funding source until the review clears. This is the counterparty reality of any custodial card: spending depends on the issuer keeping your balance available, and a compliance hold can interrupt that with little notice.
For most Bitget users the practical steps are narrow. Keep funding sources clean, avoid routing deposits through the flagged platforms, and expect closer scrutiny on cross-exchange transfers near the August 23 date. Users in Russia and Nigeria, where several of the named entities operated, are the most likely to encounter friction on affected deposit routes.
The broader signal is that large exchanges are now enforcing sanctions lists in near lockstep. A platform blocked at one venue tends to get blocked at the next, which shrinks the room for funds to move through restricted intermediaries and land unnoticed on a spendable card balance.
Overview
Bitget is restricting transactions tied to 16 entities across three waves running August 7 to 23, 2026, following OFAC and EU sanctions actions. Affected transactions may be rejected or trigger account holds, including indirect exposure through the named platforms. For cardholders, the risk is upstream: a frozen or restricted account cuts off the card's funding, so keeping deposit sources clean is the concrete takeaway.
