Russia Quietly Blocks Several Crypto Media Sites

The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) appears to have intensified what increasingly looks like a technology-driven crackdown on crypto media. Across the country, users reported disrupted access to several crypto news outlets, with no official explanation. To determine whether the disruptions followed a broader pattern, we tested access to multiple crypto media websites from different locations and ran network-level diagnostics. Several outlets failed to load on devices connected to domestic Wi-Fi networks. However, the same sites loaded normally when accessed through alternative connections. As a result, the issue did not come from website outages or server failures. Instead, the findings point to network-level interference. Blocking Patterns Point to ISP-level Enforcement At the same time, Russia’s crypto regulation continues to evolve, including steps to ease restrictions on personal crypto trading. Against that backdrop, testing conducted by the Outset PR analyst team shows that access to several international crypto media outlets is restricted at the network level. For this analysis, we selected a representative group of crypto and financial media outlets to reflect differences in language, geography, and editorial focus. The list included Benzinga, Coinness, FastBull, FXEmpire, CoinGeek, Criptonoticias, Cointelegraph, CoinEdition, The Coin Republic, AMBCrypto, and Nada News. This is not an exhaustive list. According to estimates cited by industry analysts, access restrictions may affect as many as one in four crypto and financial publications. Notably, BeInCrypto did not experience the same access disruptions during testing. This provided a neutral comparison point when assessing whether the restrictions were selective or network-wide. Network-level blocking is not new in Russia. Authorities already use it to restrict access to social media platforms, messaging apps, and online gam...