"Wrong decision". Lawyers call Binance blocking illegal

The court decision to add the site to the register of banned sites was made in June, but the exchange was not notified of thethis. The lawyers explained why the block should be canceled.

The court decision to block the website of the largest softwareBinance's trading volumes were adopted back in June, and the case has been pending since March 17, but the company has not been notified of the proceedings. On June 2, the Mirny City Court of the Arkhangelsk Region, at the suit of the Prosecutor's Office of the ZATO in Mirny, recognized the information disseminated by the Binance.com website as prohibited. The decision is explained by the fact that cryptocurrency is a virtual means of payment and accumulation, the distribution of which is prohibited on the territory of Russia.

On September 24, Binance received a notification fromRoskomnadzor, which refers to the entry of the trading platform into the register of prohibited sites. The company stressed that it had not previously received any notifications from law enforcement and civil and government services, as well as from the judiciary about the presence of any claims or court decisions. The crypto exchange emphasized that it continues to provide services to Russian users in full, and their funds are safe.

EDB Managing Partner Alexander Zhuravlev namedthe court order to block Binance is unfounded. In Russia, there is no ban on the circulation of cryptocurrencies; last fall, amendments to the Civil Code were adopted that legalized digital rights, including cryptocurrencies. A law on CFA has now been passed, which will enter into force in January.

"In the event of a judicial appeal or filingan appeal the probability of its satisfaction is high. It should be noted that, judging by the court's decision, the defendant, that is, Binance, was not properly notified of the litigation, since, among other things, he did not take part in it. This means that in fact the defendant could not express his position on this case. This in itself is a separate reason for canceling the existing judicial act, which was adopted by the appellate instance, "Zhuravlev explained.

Member of the Commission on Legal Support of Digitaleconomics of the Moscow branch of the Russian Bar Association Roman Yankovsky added that in such claims, the prosecutor's office usually refers to paragraph 6 of Art. 10 of the Law "On Information ...": "It is prohibited to disseminate information ... for the dissemination of which criminal or administrative liability is provided." However, neither for the dissemination of information about cryptocurrency, nor for any other actions with cryptocurrency, there is no criminal or administrative liability.

“This does not stop the prosecutor’s office from filingblocking claims - in addition to cryptocurrency sites, sites on dozens of similar non-obvious topics are blocked. The decisions are almost always applied in favor of the prosecutor's office. Since 2016, the prosecutor's office has announced blocking requirements for at least one hundred sites that published information on the sale of cryptoassets, ”Yankovsky said.

According to him, the reversal of the court decision onSuch cases are the exception rather than the rule. However, during the period of active discussion of legislation on cryptocurrencies in 2018-2019, there was a slight decrease in the number of blockings and even refusals of the prosecutor’s office from claims; in 2019-2020, sites with information about cryptocurrency continue to be blocked.

For example, on September 23 in the register of prohibited sitesp2p platform for buying and selling bitcoin LocalBitcoins was added. The site is included in the unified register of prohibited resources based on the decision of the Onega City Court of the Arkhangelsk Region dated July 21, 2020.

The reason for the blocking was the prosecutor's claim aboutinadmissibility of disseminating information about cryptocurrency quotes and transactions with them. When making the decision, the court relied on the article of the Administrative Code on "violation of the procedure for working with cash and the procedure for conducting cash transactions, as well as violation of the requirements for the use of special bank accounts."

Also on August 26, Roskomnadzor for the third timeblocked the site-aggregator of cryptocurrency exchangers Bestchange.ru. The reason for the blocking was the posting of information about the offer to buy bitcoin and certain goods for it. The notice states that BTC is a means of payment and accumulation prohibited in Russia.

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