Russian Court Discharges Blocking of Bitcoin-related Sites by Roskomnadzor

15.05.2015

Sverdlovsk Oblast Court dischcharged the Nevyansk Town Court order of blocking sites containing cryptocurrency-related information and consideration of such information as banned within the Russian Federation, bits.media reports.

On May 15, 2015, the second and the last session of Sverdlovsk Oblast Court for appeal to consider cryptoccurency-dedicated websites illicit.

ForkLog previously informed that on January 13, 2015, Roskomnadzor blocked access to several information resources including bitcoin.org, bitcoinconf.ru, and btcsec.com (presently bits.media).

Earlier bits.media’s creator Ivan Tikhonov noted he expected the resolution of banning BTCsec.com to be discharged:

“I believe the session involved evident faults. It should be reminded that cryptocurrencies are currently not banned in Russia, so there is no basis to deem information related to them prohibited within Russia. I think we’ve got all the chances to win the case,” Tikhonov said after the preliminary inquiry.

Following the legal proceedings the panel of judges resolved to discharge the Nevyansk Town Court’s order. Thus, cryptocurrency sites blocking in January is considered illicit now. Full text of the juridical act will be available within five days’ time.

The proceedings also involved unblocking not only Russian-language Bitcoin sites, but also international site bitcoin.org and Bitcoin-wikipedia bitcoin.it which will soon become available to Russian users again.

Bits.media (previously BTCsec.com) founder Ivan Tikhonov told ForkLog:

“Personally I’m very happy with the outcome. I hope those positive shifts in understanding cryptocurrency technologies will go on. In my opinion, the better people understand what it is, the better will be their attitude. There will be less fear and more learning of the technologies. They might apply them where they can be of benefit to people”.

Russian Bitcoin community continues its struggle to improve bitcoin climate in their country. We may just hope that the court’s resolution is but a first step on the long way to accepting Bitcoin in Russia and integration of decentralized technologies in everyday life.