Venezuelan authorities block access to Binance amid post-election protests

Representatives of the exchange assured users of the safety of funds

12.08.2024 - 10:30

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What’s new? Venezuelan authorities have blocked access to crypto exchange Binance, social network X, and other online services amid unrest over the presidential election results. On August 9, local anti-censorship organization VE sin Filtro reported the discovery of Binance’s DNS blocking, which affects its website and mobile app.

Source: X.com

What else is known? Binance assured local users that their funds are safe, adding that it is “monitoring the situation closely to address it in the best and quickest way possible.”

Source: X.com

Binance’s P2P service, where users can directly exchange cash for cryptocurrency between them, is extremely popular in Venezuela due to the high inflation of the national currency (bolivar). VE sin Filtro representatives recommended locals to use VPNs to bypass the blocking.

The blocking of Binance comes a day after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered telecommunications regulator CONATEL to restrict access to X in the country for 10 days following a conflict with social network owner Elon Musk.

The country has seen mass protests following the July 28 presidential election. The government-controlled electoral body declared Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, without providing counting data. His opponent Edmundo Gonzalez said he had collected about 70% of the vote. The US, EU, UK, and many South American countries did not recognize Maduro’s victory, requesting a recount.

Earlier, the Philippines’ regulator demanded the blocking of Binance’s website and the removal of its iOS and Android apps because the exchange lacked the necessary registration to operate in the country.

This month, India’s tax authority demanded Binance pay $86 million because the exchange failed to pay taxes on fees it charged customers from July 2017 to March 2024.

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