Arkhangelsk Regional Court Ruled in Favor of Binance

Cryptocurrencies step by step gained popularity all over the world, but there are certain challenges that have the potential to affect the popularity of cryptocurrencies. Hopefully, the Russian court made an important decision. It is worth mentioning that, Arkhangelsk Regional Court annulled a previous decision to blacklist the website of Binance in Russia. As a reminder, Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and this fact once more underlines its importance. Thanks to this decision, Binance is no longer formally on the country’s blacklist.

Interestingly, the latest decision reverts a previous ruling made in 2020. As a reminder, in September the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange announced that Roskomnadzor added its website to the list of prohibited websites. Roskomnadzor is a telecom regulator of the country.

People should take into account that, the regulator blacklisted the website based on a court decision charging the site for spreading prohibited information. This is not the end of the story,  despite the block, Binance was still available in the country without additional access tools like VPNs.

Binance and Russian market

The world-famous cryptocurrency exchange is waiting for the documents regarding the latest decision. The company expects to receive documents in the next two weeks. Importantly, after receiving the documents Binance will send a notification to remove its website from the list.

As stated above, the ban has not affected its trading volumes in the Russian market. Nevertheless, the company wanted to protect its reputation. Thanks to the court’s decision it will be easier to defend its reputation in the future.

Interestingly, this ruling comes shortly after the country officially adopted its major crypto law “On Digital Financial Assets” on January 1, 2021. Last summer, Russian State Duma passed a bill titled “On Digital Financial Assets” in its final third reading. The country’s president Vladimir Putin signed this bill into law.

As a reminder, the law gives a definition to digital currency. It is worth mentioning that, Russian banks, as well as exchanges, can become exchange operators of digital financial assets. However, they must register with the central bank, the Bank of Russia. Moreover, the central bank will be in charge of providing a framework on what types of digital currencies can be purchased by qualified as well as unqualified investors.

Russian authorities should work with Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges to solve any issues in the future.