Author: dmitriy.vasyura@gmail.com

A bunch of cryptocurrency exchanges linked to Russia helps customers transfer funds exterior the attain of Western monetary restrictions, in keeping with a report launched Saturday by blockchain analytics agency Elliptic.

Key Takeaways:

• Elliptic recognized 5 Russia-linked crypto exchanges offering pathways to bypass Western sanctions.
• Just one platform is formally sanctioned, but a number of processed giant transactions with restricted entities.
• Exercise has shifted throughout a number of providers, suggesting enforcement actions redirect reasonably than halt flows.

The research identifies 5 buying and selling platforms, most of them not formally sanctioned, that proceed to supply channels for high-volume crypto transactions past the oversight of the standard banking system.

The findings arrive as European officers take into account tighter measures, together with a possible blanket ban on crypto transactions involving Russia, amid considerations that new platforms are rising to switch beforehand focused operators.

Elliptic: Almost 10% of Bitpapa Transactions Tied to Sanctioned Targets

Among the many exchanges examined, solely the peer-to-peer market Bitpapa is underneath US sanctions.

The US Treasury’s Workplace of International Belongings Management (OFAC) designated the platform in March 2024 for alleged sanctions evasion.

Elliptic discovered that about 9.7% of Bitpapa’s outgoing transactions had been linked to sanctioned entities and that the trade steadily rotated pockets addresses to make monitoring tougher.

The report additionally highlights ABCeX, an unsanctioned trade working from Moscow’s Federation Tower, the identical constructing beforehand utilized by Garantex earlier than US authorities seized its domains in March 2025.

Elliptic estimates ABCeX has processed at the least $11 billion in crypto, with vital transfers flowing to Garantex and one other trade, Aifory Professional.

JUST IN: European Union proposes banning all crypto transactions with Russia to forestall sanctions evasion. pic.twitter.com/4FlGZJJorB

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) February 10, 2026

One other case includes Exmo, which mentioned it exited the Russian market after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by promoting its regional operations to a separate entity, Exmo.me.

Elliptic’s evaluation suggests operational ties stay: each providers seem to share custodial infrastructure and pooled sizzling wallets.

The agency recorded greater than $19.5 million in transactions between Exmo and sanctioned exchanges, together with Garantex, Grinex and Chatex.

Rapira, registered in Georgia however sustaining a Moscow workplace, was additionally flagged after sending over $72 million on to sanctioned trade Grinex.

Authorities in Russia reportedly raided Rapira’s workplaces in late 2025 over suspected capital transfers to Dubai.

The fifth platform, Aifory Professional, operates cash-to-crypto providers in Moscow, Dubai and Turkey.

The corporate reportedly affords digital fee playing cards funded with USDT that enable Russian customers to entry providers restricted by Western suppliers. Elliptic additionally traced almost $2 million from Aifory Professional to the Iranian trade Abantether.

Sanctions Shift Exercise, Illicit Crypto Quantity Hits Document Excessive

Researchers say the community illustrates how enforcement actions can shift exercise reasonably than remove it.

After the shutdown of Garantex, transaction volumes rose on different exchanges, in keeping with knowledge from a number of analytics corporations.

Chainalysis reported that illicit crypto addresses obtained a report $154 billion in 2025, whereas TRM Labs produced the same estimate of $158 billion.

As reported, Russia’s industrial crypto mining sector continued to broaden in 2024, with the nation’s two largest operators, BitRiver and Intelion, producing a mixed $200 million in income and accounting for greater than half of the authorized market.

The submit Elliptic Flags Community of Russian Crypto Platforms Bypassing Sanctions appeared first on Cryptonews.

NASA has postponed the Artemis II mission on account of points with the helium provide within the House Launch System rocket. This makes a March 2026 launch not possible, and the rocket might be transported to the hangar for repairs.

NASA has formally introduced the postponement of the historic Artemis II lunar mission on account of issues with helium provide within the House Launch System rocket. The huge equipment must be faraway from the launch pad and returned to the hangar for complicated repairs, making a launch in March 2026 not possible. That is reported by UNN.

Particulars

I perceive that persons are disenchanted with this flip of occasions. This disappointment is most felt by the NASA crew, who’ve labored tirelessly to organize for this nice endeavor.

— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote on the social community X.

Engineers found an interruption within the circulate of helium, obligatory for the steady operation of the rocket's techniques, within the higher a part of the equipment, constructed by Boeing. In keeping with Isaacman, it’s not possible to repair such an issue instantly on the launch pad, so the rocket is being transported to the meeting constructing on the Kennedy House Middle.

NASA postpones astronaut moon mission to March on account of gasoline leak04.02.26, 03:33 • 4596 views

It’s noteworthy {that a} comparable helium malfunction was already recorded throughout the first check flight of the SLS again in 2022, which signifies the systemic nature of the issue.

New deadlines and expectations for the primary flight to the Moon

The choice to restore was made only a day after NASA tentatively set the launch date for March 6. Now, specialists are contemplating April because the earliest alternative for the following try and ship a crew of 4 on a journey across the Moon.

This mission is to be the primary human flight to Earth's satellite tv for pc in 50 years, so the company emphasizes the precedence of astronaut security over the pace of program implementation.

NASA plans first crewed Moon flight below Artemis program in March20.02.26, 19:25 • 4062 views

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded a fifth consecutive week of web withdrawals, extending the longest damaging streak since early 2025 as institutional demand softened alongside a broader pullback in digital belongings.

Key Takeaways:

• Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a fifth straight week of withdrawals, dropping about $316 million and roughly $3.8 billion over the streak.
• Midweek promoting outweighed Friday inflows, displaying cooling institutional demand regardless of steady costs.
• Capital seems to be rotating inside crypto funds, with Ether additionally seeing outflows whereas Solana and XRP merchandise drew inflows.

Information from SoSoValue reveals the 12 funds collectively misplaced about $316 million throughout the week ending Feb. 20.

Buying and selling exercise was compressed into 4 periods as a result of Presidents’ Day vacation, and the primary three days all closed damaging.

Bitcoin ETFs Put up Heavy Midweek Outflows Regardless of Friday Rebound

Roughly $105 million exited on Tuesday, adopted by $133 million on Wednesday and $166 million on Thursday.

A modest restoration on Friday, when $88 million flowed again into the merchandise, was not sufficient to reverse the weekly pattern. BlackRock’s IBIT led the rebound with about $64.5 million in inflows, whereas Constancy’s FBTC added roughly $23.6 million.

The present run of outflows started the week of Jan. 20 and has eliminated round $3.8 billion from the Bitcoin ETF complicated.

The final comparable stretch occurred practically a yr in the past throughout a tariff-driven market sell-off that additionally weighed on threat belongings.

Whereas the period of the streak matches that interval, the magnitude has been smaller, with the heaviest withdrawals concentrated in late January when funds misplaced $1.33 billion and $1.49 billion in consecutive weeks.

Bitcoin's total historical past in 89 seconds!
As of Feb 2026, the numbers:
People: 13.15M BTC
ETFs & Funds: 1.6M BTC
Corporations: 1.17M BTC
Governments: 647K BTC
Establishments and firms are shopping for. However the majority of people are nonetheless HODLing!
Video… pic.twitter.com/13kEHTr52Y

— Sumit Gupta (CoinDCX) (@smtgpt) February 20, 2026

More moderen weekly losses have ranged between roughly $316 million and $360 million.

Regardless of the withdrawals, the ETF market stays substantial. Cumulative web inflows since launch in January 2024 nonetheless complete about $54 billion, and mixture web belongings stand close to $85.3 billion.

Bitcoin has traded round $68,600, down greater than 20% yr up to now and beneath a key onchain stage recognized by analysts as separating enlargement from consolidation phases.

Ether funds confirmed the same sample, dropping about $123 million throughout the week and lengthening their very own five-week streak of withdrawals.

In contrast, newer merchandise tied to Solana attracted roughly $14.3 million in inflows, whereas XRP-based funds recorded a modest $1.8 million acquire.

The divergence suggests capital is rotating inside crypto funding merchandise fairly than leaving the sector altogether, with buyers repositioning throughout belongings as sentiment stays cautious fairly than panicked.

Trump Media Information for Bitcoin, Ether and Cronos ETFs With Staking Rewards

Final week, Trump Media and Know-how Group filed purposes for 2 cryptocurrency ETFs that might monitor Bitcoin, Ether and the Cronos (CRO) token, increasing the corporate’s involvement in digital belongings.

The proposed “Reality Social Bitcoin and Ether ETF” would primarily observe the efficiency of the 2 largest cryptocurrencies, whereas the “Reality Social Cronos Yield Maximizer ETF” would offer publicity to CRO.

The Cronos-focused fund would additionally supply staking rewards, with Crypto.com serving as custodian and offering liquidity and staking companies.

Trump Media has additionally signaled curiosity in integrating blockchain past ETFs.

The corporate lately stated it intends to distribute a brand new digital token to shareholders on the Cronos community and beforehand disclosed plans for a company crypto treasury involving CRO.

The submit Spot Bitcoin ETFs Log Fifth Straight Week of Outflows as Institutional Demand Cools appeared first on Cryptonews.