On September 24, 2020, Binance – one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world in terms of trade volume – announced on its website that its domain has been blacklisted in Russia.
It seems that the exchange platform has been taken by surprise when the Roskomnadzor – the Federal Service for Supervision of Information Technology and Mass Media of the Russian Federation — notified Binance that its primary exchange domain ‘www.binance.com’ has been blacklisted on the Russian web.
Binance Blacklisted for Distributing Info on Buying Bitcoin
According to the shared information in a post by Binance, the reason for the ban was due to the distribution of information that is prohibited in Russia. More specifically, information regarding “buying Bitcoin.”
Binance claims it had not been previously notified by law enforcement nor had it been contacted by the judicial authorities about any claims or court decisions regarding the website.
In light of this situation, the exchange has sought legal counseling regarding the matter.
Following this, Binance has assured its clients that all client funds have not been affected and are safe, and it will continue providing services to Russian users.
The news was shared on the Russian version of the blog, but the international Binance account is yet to release a statement by the time of press.
Russian Authorities Seeking Control Over Crypto
Meanwhile, on the same day, Russian users of LocalBitcoins had trouble accessing the website. Apparently, LocalBitcoins.net is included in the unified register of banned resources based on the decision of the Onega City Court of the Arkhangelsk region from July 21, 2020.
The reason for blocking the site was the prosecutor’s lawsuit on the inadmissibility of distributing information about cryptocurrency quotes and operations.
Although the country had a relatively neutral outlook with glimpses of potential for cryptocurrencies, it seems that Russian authorities are changing their tune.
Recently the country’s authorities also issued a proposal wherein Russian citizens must declare cryptocurrency wallets and addresses. The Ministry of Finance also wants to include punishments for undeclared digital assets higher than 1 million Rubles (ca. $13,000).