Roskomnadzor informs Binance of its addition to the registry of banned websites

The cryptocurrency exchange Binance received a notification from Roskomnadzor about being included in the registry of sites banned on the territory of the Russian Federation for information about the sale of cryptocurrencies.

Binance_statement_24.09%2520(1) by ForkLog on Scribd

In its message to users, the exchange said it had not previously received notifications from law enforcement or civil government authorities, as well as from the judiciary about any lawsuits or court rulings. Binance has consulted lawyers.

Nevertheless, the exchange will continue to serve users in Russia.

“We continue to provide services to Russian users in full, and client funds are safe,” Binance said.

The exchange intends to challenge Roskomnadzor’s decision:

“Binance values its reputation in the Russian market, and we will challenge this decision in court. In addition, we are considering the possibility of deploying alternative technological solutions. We will inform our Russian community of all our steps,” said Gleb Kostarev, Director of Binance in Russia.

Searching for “binance.com” in the registry yields no results. As ForkLog’s independent expert Alexander Isavin explained, this is because the public dump intended for blocking by operators is not the entire registry.

“Moreover, the procedure is this: Roskomnadzor adds a site to the registry, sends notices, and if the material is not removed, it is effectively blocked. There have been cases when resources appeared in the dump only after the appeals deadlines,” the expert noted.

Earlier the agency blocked the LocalBitcoins mirror. In the summer, the cryptocurrency portal Bestсhange and the news site Coinpost were added to the registry of banned websites.

In 2017, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Saint Petersburg ruled that information distributed on 40 different bitcoin exchanges was banned in Russia.

In spring 2019, ForkLog noted that Russian courts issue bitcoin-exchange blocking decisions by template, even without naming a domain.

The State Duma passed in July the cryptocurrency turnover law “On Digital Financial Assets.” It effectively prohibits accepting cryptocurrency as payment for goods and services and disseminating information about such offers.

Additionally, the Russian Finance Ministry proposed to introduce criminal liability for failing to declare cryptocurrencies. ForkLog looked into what this means for the industry.

“Opinion: the court’s decision to block Binance is legally unfounded”

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