The UK passed sanctions on the owner of crypto payment processors Cryptomus and Heleket, designating the two companies as a single sanctioned entity on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
The two brands are now seen as one business, and it blocks off an avenue for an operator linked to Russia from moving users from one company to another.
Heleket was launched in January 2025, and in February 2025, Cryptomus started mandatory KYC checks. The timing looked suspicious, as Cryptomus had its monthly on-chain volume drop while that of Heleket went up around the same period.
TRM Labs reports that Heleket was launched with the aim of absorbing users who walked away from Cryptomus due to its new regulations.
Two brands, one designation
Xeltox Enterprises Ltd was named by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as the parent company of Cryptomus, Heleket, and Certa Payments Ltd. The UK chose to designate Xeltox for “supporting the Russian financial services sector ‘through its ownership of Cryptomus and activities linked to and continued via Heleket.’”
Xeltox has already been penalized in Canada. In October of last year, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) slapped the firm with a CAD 177 million fine for breaching money-laundering and terrorist-financing rules.
Xeltox has challenged the decision in court, claiming the fine was based on “errors of law” and blamed certain violations on “foreign licensees” with no base in Canada.
The Garantex-to-Grinex playbook
This pattern is not new at all. TokenSpot, an exchange based in Kyrgyzstan, was designated as well. TRM’s assessment was that TokenSpot operates on shared wallet infrastructure with Grinex and is simply a front company for Grinex.
Grinex went live after the UK designated Garantex on May 4, 2022. Garantex was brought down in March 2025, and Grinex appeared not long after. Grinex was designated by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on August 14, 2025, and the UK did the same barely a week after.
TokenSpot’s on-chain footprint can be linked directly to the Grinex/Grarantex network. The exchange disbursed over $950 million across Grinex, Garantex, and the A7 network. A7 received almost $679.5 million out of the $950 million. A7 was recently sanctioned by the US government for its role in assisting Iran evade financial restrictions.
What else the package struck
Up to 38 designations were made on Thursday, and they were not restricted to the crypto space. In fact, the FCDO acted under the provisions of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, and named two Russian oil companies, Zarubezhneft and INK-Capital, 12 shadow-fleet tankers, and 17 entities and individuals linked to the supply of military goods.
The UK went on to add Tsunami Payments LLC and OJSC Processing KG, alongside Processing KG’s director Ulan Bukabaev, Russian firm Planeta, and the Moscow lender Stolichny Kredit.
TRM’s advice to compliance teams captures the enforcement problem. Screen both the Cryptomus and Heleket brands, check TokenSpot exposure against Grinex exposure, and watch for the next successor service.
The designations target today’s names. The operators behind them have a record of picking up new ones.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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