Russia has blocked the website of popular crypto exchange OKX as per the records from Roskomnadzor, the country’s state media regulator and internet censorship agency.
The records confirm that Russia blocked OKX’s website due to requests from Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation and it remains unclear why the step was taken.
International Business Times reached out to OKX regarding the website block and is awaiting reply from the exchange.
As per the Roskomnadzor records, the website of OKX was blocked in accordance with the article 15.3 of Russia’s federal law on Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection.
Article 15.3 of the law mentioned above calls for restricting a website on multiple grounds including providing fake information or being a potential threat to financial or credit organizations.
Interestingly, blocking the website does not mean that Russian cannot access the website. Due to the presence of Virtual Proxy Networks (VPNs), Russians can change their locations and enjoy the services of the crypto exchange.
On the other hand, Russia is gradually moving towards crypto adoption as the central bank of the transcontinental country noted that crypto payments for cross-border transactions are inevitable due to the current geopolitical situation.
“Because the infrastructure that we plan to create is too rigid for the use of cryptocurrencies in cross-border settlements, which, of course, we must, first of all, legalize somehow,” said Russia’s deputy finance minister.
As per the data from The Block Research, OKX is the second largest crypto-only exchange in terms of trading volumes and market share.
According to previous reports, the exchange was recently granted a provisional virtual assets license by the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority under the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulators Authority (VARA) allowing OKX to provide “certain services to qualified investors in the United Arab Emirates, the broader Gulf Cooperation Council, Africa and elsewhere.”
