Russia blocks cryptocurrency sites again

Despite statements about the legalization of cryptocurrencies in the country, Russia continues to block websitescryptocurrency topics.

Kotlas City Court of the Arkhangelsk Regionconsidered that a number of news resources, online stores and the Bestchange platform illegally distribute information prohibited in the territory of the Russian Federation, and decided to block their work.

For the first time, Roskomnadzor blocked monitoringexchangers Bestchange.ru in 2017, then in March last year, for disseminating information about surrogate monetary units (cryptocurrency). At the same time, all court decisions to close the resource were adopted according to the same template, without legal grounds, referring to the information letter of the Central Bank, which considers transactions with cryptocurrency dubious and aimed at financing terrorism. 

Previously, lawyers were able to challenge decisionscourt, due to the lack of a direct ban on cryptocurrency transactions in the country’s regulatory framework. However, in the recently adopted law on “Digital Financial Assets”, payment for goods with cryptocurrency is prohibited by several articles of the document, including a complete ban on advertising of cryptocurrency as a means of payment. The law is still awaiting approval by the Federation Council and the President and can only begin to work on January 1 2021, but the courts are already focusing on its articles.

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