In 2016, the Vyborgsky District Court of St. Petersburg granted a prosecutorial request to block bitcoininfo.ru, one of the biggest, Russian cryptocurrency websites, which is currently offline.

According to RAPSI, the official court´s press service, The Supreme Court of Russia ordered the St. Petersburg City Court to review and appeal against blocking the web portal. Although, the city has chosen not to review the district court´s decision on appeal, in March, the city court canceled the order to block cryptocurrency information websites.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency hard-regulation is still a problematic topic in Russian politics. Last may some district courts like the Oktyabrsky of St. Petersburg, decided to block crypto-related web pages, This February the St. Petersburg prosecutor’s office appealed against the court decision in order to overturn it. According to a local news portal, the prosecutor’s office appealed to the court in order to supervise the execution of laws on “especially regime objects” and acting on behalf of the Russian Federation and an indefinite group of individuals. “Free distribution of “e-currency” results in the use of cryptocurrency in the trading of drugs, weapons, counterfeit documents and other criminal activity.

“Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, support the growth of the shadow economy and cannot be used legally in the Russian Federation.”

Said the court in its decision.”

Members of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development also debated changes in the current regulation of cryptocurrency this February, as the growth of this field could mean good revenues for the country. “Transactional profits, as well as personal income, from cryptocurrencies should not be taxed. Furthermore, investment limit in ICOs should be increased from 50,000 to 500,000 rubles. Russian token holders would be allowed to invest in other tokens and participate in foreign exchanges.”

 

by Samuel Larreal

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