Skip to main content

Russia Blocks Cryptocurrency Websites Ahead of Regulation

Russia Blocks Cryptocurrency Websites Ahead of Regulation

Russian authorities have blocked a number of websites related to cryptocurrency ahead of the country’s crypto regulation taking effect. A popular exchange aggregator website has already been blocked twice and has now received a third notice.

Russia Determined to Block Crypto Sites

Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has blocked popular Russian cryptocurrency exchange monitoring website Bestchange.ru for the third time. The platform informed its users via Facebook on Wednesday:

Dear subscribers, our Bestchange.ru domain has again been blocked in the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, regional prosecutors continue to sue to block Bestchange and other sites for mentioning the bitcoin cryptocurrency.

Bestchange.ru further explained that it had been investigating how to unblock its domain but testing may take some time. The free website helps users find the best offers online, including the best rates for cryptocurrencies, electronic money, and internet banking. The service, launched in 2007, is not restricted to just cryptocurrency.

According to bits.media, this is the third time Roskomnadzor has blocked Bestchange.ru. The first time was in 2017, which was canceled in 2018. The second time was in March last year when the Kuibyshevsky District Court of Omsk issued an order to block Bestchange.ru along with other cryptocurrency exchange websites. It was canceled in May of the same year. “According to a court ruling, information about bitcoin was considered prohibited, as it contradicted federal laws of the Russian Federation,” the publication noted.

The third time started when the Kotlas city court ordered the blocking of seven cryptocurrency websites in January. Roskomnadzor reportedly received the court decision on June 23 and immediately sent out notices about the blocking.

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 “distribute information prohibited in the Russian Federation” and will be included in Roskomnadzor’s registry of blocked websites. In addition, news.Bitcoin.com previously reported that six crypto websites and two news sites were blocked by the Russian media watchdog.

Bestchange.ru did not shut down, however, as the management decided to appeal the court decision. The court is expected to pass the case to a higher court on Aug. 27. Nonetheless, Roskomnadzor sent out another notice on Aug. 26 about the blocking of the site.

According to the news outlet, Roskomnadzor’s action is not related to the crypto regulation recently signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, which will enter into force on Jan. 1 next year. The new law gives legal status to cryptocurrency but prohibits its use for payments of goods and services.

What do you think about Russia blocking crypto-related sites? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Russia Blocks Cryptocurrency Websites Ahead of Regulation appeared first on Bitcoin News.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/31GADKH

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Deep Web Roundup: Dream Adds Monero and Bitcoin Tumbler “Chip Mixer” Launches

The darknet has been quiet of late, which is the way it’s meant to be. No news means no mega busts, honeypots, or mass market shutdowns. Even when it’s out of the spotlight though, the deep web is quietly making news, whether trialling the latest privacy coins or the newest coin mixers that promise to restore a little of the privacy that’s being stripped away from bitcoin users on a daily basis. Also read: U.S. Agency ICE Conducts Investigations That Exploit Blockchain Activity The Battle for Privacy Heats Up Privacy is all relative, but of late there’s been relatively little privacy to be enjoyed by bitcoin users. Blockchain monitoring software is becoming more sophisticated and more common, with U.S. law enforcement agencies using it to profile and hunt down deep web users. Chip Mixer is a relatively new bitcoin tumbler that’s designed to restore some of that privacy. Available on both the clearnet and darknet, the service uses a variety of techniques to obfuscate blockchain m

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl

International Crypto Exchange Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading

Luno exchange has added bitcoin cash trading to the platform following feedback from its client base. BCH is now only the third cryptocurrency available for trading on the exchange, in addition to BTC and ETH , but more options could be on the way once Luno determines that they are credible enough. Also Read: Bitflyer Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Across Europe and the US Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Luno, the London-headquartered company formerly known as Bitx, recently announced that bitcoin cash was made available on its cryptocurrency exchange. Starting from Monday, September 23, customers at Luno are now able to store, buy and sell BCH on the platform. The reason given for adding BCH to the exchange is feedback from users in developing markets that convinced Luno to expand their offering from previously just BTC and ETH . Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of Luno, said , “We are in a new and exciting financial era. Developing economies are leading the large-scale adoption and appli