The Supreme Court of Russia Orders to Check the Ban of Bitcoin Website

The Russian Supreme Court has ordered St. Petersburg City Court to consider the cryptocurrency website ban, according to yesterday’s report.

The District Court of St. Petersburg has granted the application of the Prosecution Office in summer 2016. The court searched and found the information on the website about digital gold Bitcoin, to violate the Federal Act “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the Bank of Russia)”.

The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg ordered in July 2017 to block 40 websites containing information about cryptocurrencies, saying they “contribute to the growth of the shadow economy” and that free distribution of information about digital currency causes “high use of cryptocurrency in the trade of drugs, weapons, forged documents, and other criminal activity.” The City Court reviewed in March 2018 the  appeal and discharged the decision, ordering the websites to be unblocked.

The Russian government set a ban on the popular messaging app Telegram earlier this week. Communications watchdog Roskomnadzor attempted to enforce the ban by blocking nearly 20 mln IP addresses, but many users report that the app still functions. The other services and websites, including Microsoft updates, and website of Roskomnadzor were charged by agency with implementing the ban.