Russian authorities blocked a number of websites related to cryptocurrency before the country’s crypto regulation went into effect. A popular Exchange Aggregator website has already been blocked twice and has now received a third notification.
Russia determined to block crypto sites
The Russian Federal Service for the Surveillance of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has blocked for the third time the popular Russian website for the surveillance of cryptocurrency exchanges, Bestchange.ru. The platform informed its users on Wednesday via Facebook:
Dear subscribers, our domain Bestchange.ru has been blocked again in the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, regional prosecutors continue to complain about blocking Bestchange and other websites for mentioning the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Bestchange.ru went on to say that it has been researching how to unblock its domain, but testing may take some time. The free website helps users find the best deals online, including the best prices on cryptocurrencies, electronic money, and internet banking. The service launched in 2007 is not just limited to cryptocurrency.
According to bits.media, this is the third time Roskomnadzor has blocked Bestchange.ru. The first time was 2017, which was canceled in 2018. The second time was in March last year, when the Kuibyshevsky District Court in Omsk issued an order to block Bestchange.ru along with other websites for the exchange of cryptocurrencies. It was canceled in May of the same year. “According to a court ruling, information about Bitcoin was considered banned because it contravened federal laws of the Russian Federation,” the publication said.
The third time began when the Kotlas City Court ordered seven cryptocurrency websites to be blocked in January. Roskomnadzor reportedly received the court ruling on June 23 and immediately sent notices of the lockdown.
The publication reported on June 24 that the owners of the sites bitok.shop, lavka-flowers.ru, cryptorussia.ru, prostocoin.com, cryptowikipedia.ru, bestchange.ru and coinpost.ru received notifications that they “prohibited Disseminate information “the Russian Federation” and is included in Roskomnadzor’s register of blocked sites. In addition, news.Bitcoin.com previously reported that six crypto websites and two news websites were blocked by the Russian media watchdog.
However, Bestchange.ru has not closed as management decided to appeal the court decision. The court is expected to refer the case to a higher court on August 27. Nevertheless, on August 26th, Roskomnadzor sent out another notification about the blocking of the website.
According to the news agency, Roskomnadzor’s actions are not related to the crypto regulation recently put into effect by President Vladimir Putin, which will come into effect on January 1st next year. The new law gives cryptocurrency legal status but prohibits its use to pay for goods and services.
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