As cryptocurrencies expand in every single country, legal systems start to face new conflicts and situations involving these virtual currencies. The Supreme Court of Russia asked the St. Petersburg Court to review an appeal involving a crypto-related website that was blocked in the country. That could settle a precedent in the crypto community worldwide and guide other legal systems to take similar measures.
Russia Settles Legal Precedent
The website blocked was bitcoininfo.ru, which offered a bounty of cryptocurrency-related information. The decision of The Supreme Court of Russia will affect several other websites that are now affected by different restrictions. Another famous platform blocked was Localbitcoins.com. 
The website affected considered bitcoin as ‘a mean of virtual payment and accumulation,’ something that is against Russian law. Russia has very strict laws that are designed to have control over the crypto-space. The owner of the website was not able to participate in the hearings and did not appeal due to the fact that he didn’t do it on the time registered under the Russian law.
As bitcoin and other virtual currencies expand all over the world, this case could be taken as a precedent for the cryptocurrency community. There are many other websites blocked in Russia and in other countries. Citing this case, legal systems could re-think their positions towards these websites and allow them to run under specific conditions.
Russia has been taken different measures in order to control the crypto market and regulate bitcoin. But at the same time, the government is trying to implement a more flexible approach towards the industry, and adopt and embrace distributed ledger technology for different governmental duties.
As we reported in the past, Russia has opened the first Blockchain school in the city of Moscow, which focuses on the technical aspects of the Ethereum network. Moreover, the country has also opened two crypto-related agencies in Vladivostok. One is a crypto-detective agency, and the other is a crypto-advisory one. At the same time, the eastern city will be hosting different blockchain-related events and courses for its citizens.
