The Russian government has completely blocked LocalBitcoins.com. Has its attitude towards Bitcoin changed again?

Russia’s Federal Information Monitoring Service, also known as Roskomnadzor, has completely blocked the Bitcoin exchange LocalBitcoins.com. Immediately after the website blocking order came into effect, LocalBitcoins immediately published a tutorial blog post instructing its users to connect to the LocalBitcoins website through a VPN or Tor browser.

The Russian Government’s Mixed Feelings on Bitcoin

Over the past few years, Russia has been issuing regulatory guidelines on Bitcoin and its operations, but most of them are contradictory. For example, the Russian Ministry of Finance originally planned to rule that the use of Bitcoin is illegal in the country and intended to write this provision into law.

Then, Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, said that the use of Bitcoin should be banned completely.

Finally, something happened that surprised everyone. In an interview, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said that Bitcoin trading is permitted by law, just like foreign exchange market trading, and pointed out that a Bitcoin ban is not the right choice.

Over the past two years, Russia’s Federal Information Monitoring Service, a federal law enforcement agency that functions similarly to China’s “Great Firewall” mechanism in its online media censorship strategy, has blocked several bitcoin trading sites, such as BTCe and BitNovosti.com.

VPNs and Tor

Following the government’s official ban of its website, LocalBitcoins immediately released a statement instructing its users on how to circumvent online censorship and connect to LocalBitcoins.com.

Recently, the Russian Federal Information Monitoring Service decided to block our website. This decision came as a surprise to all of us. This article contains instructions that will help you circumvent the blockage and continue to use our website.

The guidelines released by LocalBitcoins mainly include two solutions.

The first method is to use a virtual private network (VPN), which can help users connect to shared or public networks. LocalBitcoins says that VPNs can allow users to access their website smoothly while encrypting user traffic and removing network censorship.

However, free VPNs are less reliable. Some free VPNs will monitor and collect traffic and communication data.

In addition to VPN, LocalBitcoins also recommends using the Tor browser. This is a free software that allows anonymous online communication. Users can directly access a large network with more than 7,000 relays.

Russians must be extra careful when using Bitcoin services

The legal status of Bitcoin in Russia has been unclear in recent years, and users must be extremely careful. Although users can use VPNs and Tor to circumvent government blockades, there is still a risk of arrest.

Bitcoin.com believes that Bitcoin should be a globally applicable currency and hopes that the Russian government will open up cryptocurrency trading and lift the ban on Bitcoin trading websites.