The Prosecutor General Office of Russia has blacklisted the OKX Exchange, the third-largest crypto exchange by volume. As per the registry of a local NGO, Roskomsvoboda, the decision of the prosecutor general office № 73/3-105-2022 was made on October 4. The IP addresses of the OKX Exchange website have been blacklisted by the authority.
However, the reasons for imposing a ban on the exchange’s website are still unknown. In addition, the authority did not previously comment or warn the OKX Exchange on any matter. The exchange has not yet commented on the matter. But the pan has been placed, and it could also be seen in the official database of Russia’s internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor.
Russia Bans OKX Under Article 15.3
According to the details, the Russian authority has banned the OKX website by exercising article 15.3 of the Federal Law on the Information, Information Technologies, and Protection of Information. This law focuses on public calls for extremist activities and data about the banned organization in Russia. Nonetheless, there is no information on how the exchange violated the rule.
While commenting on the matter, the founder of Roskomsvoboda, Artem Kozlyuk said that usually, website owners are unaware of the website’s blacklisting. The only way they can find the reason is by suing Roskomnadzor. Even website hosting services are unaware of the reasons. But they are obliged to comply with the decision of the authority.
However, OKX is not the first exchange to suffer from the wrath of Russian authorities. Last year, the largest global exchange, Binance’s website was also blocked after court orders. The decision was overturned earlier this year. Thus, OKX might have to go down the same road as well.
The Russian authorities are known for tightening screws around crypto firms. They have been working to manage the crypto industry for the past couple of years. According to the country’s law crypto is recognized as property but it cannot be used as a payment method. Moreover, a bill on crypto taxation is yet to be cleared by the Russian Parliament.
The Central Bank of Russia also has a rigid stance against the use of cryptocurrencies. But the Finance Ministry and the Government usually come up with a much different approach. Therefore, there is a lot of confusion around the use of crypto and its status in the country.
