Blockchain Lottery Startup TrueFlip Banned in Russia Just Two Week Before the ICO

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by Tatsiana Yablonskaya · 3 min read
Blockchain Lottery Startup TrueFlip Banned in Russia Just Two Week Before the ICO
Photo: TrueFlip

Russian federal entity pointed out lottery-related nature of TrueFlip while lottery activities are strictly forbidden across the entire Russia.

Blockchain lottery TrueFlip has recently been blocked by Roskomnadzor in the Russian Federation. The federal entity supervising and overseeing media in Russia has previously banned several cryptocurrency-related websites including news outlet Bitnovosti, cryptocurrency-related forum bitcoininfo.ru, bitcoin-purchasing service LocalBitcoins, and such crypto-exchanges as EXMO and BitStamp. Besides, the government body is known for banning adult content websites, torrent trackers, and even Wikipedia and LinkedIn.

Roskomnadzor is entitled to ban websites without court rulings while internet providers are responsible for blocking the access to banned websites.

Roskomnadzor explained that TrueFlip was blocked due to its lottery-related nature while lottery activities are strictly forbidden across the entire Russia, save a few specifically designated locations.

“Within 24 hours after receiving this notice it is necessary to inform about it your client, the owner of the revealed Internet web-site, and to notify him of the need to remove the information prohibited for distribution in the Russian Federation immediately. Within 24 hours after receiving from the hosting provider a notification of inclusion of the domain name and (or) the Internet web-site page link in the Register, the Internet website owner shall take measures to remove the information prohibited and (or) limit the access to the Internet web-site containing information prohibited for distribution in the Russian Federation,” the letter from Roskomnadzor reads.

TrueFlip supposes that the ban is a mistake: “TrueFlip complies with the law, and we will point that out to the public and the nation state. We have sent a letter to Roskomnadzor clarifying the faultiness of such interpretation as the law defines a lottery as one implying monetary or commodity-based winning. Officially, cryptocurrency is neither money, nor a commodity.”

Banning resources is becoming a common practice on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Ukraine has recently forbidden access to Russia-based social media, accountancy software, and search engine. The measures were taken for national security.

Most of the resources banned in Russia have filed lawsuits against illicit restriction of information, and some of them have even won their cases.

TrueFlip will not be an exception. The team promised to fight for their rights. Dmitry Machikhin, a well-known lawyer specializing in cryptocurrency-related proceedings, will represent the company in the court. He states that the ban of TrueFlip can be a part of a well-planned campaign aimed at monopolizing Russia’s online lottery market.

“The Federal Tax Service is entitled to investigate and disclose violations related to lotteries and casinos on the internet. It’s not quite clear why such special authorities are with a tax body, not Roskomnadzor, but that’s not the thing”, Machikhin says. “It’s worth noting that in 2014 the government has decided to completely monopolize lotteries, and make them exclusively offline. The FTS and the Roskomnadzor have banned over 200 websites that bear even a slightest resemblance with online raffling services over the three years.”

TrueFlip.io has managed to attract nearly 50 thousand people to participate in the raffling for only one month since its launch. The developers claim that the blockchain technology allows to state that the project is 100% transparent. The platform has already held a successful presale campaign, and is going to launch the main crowdsale on June, 20th.

The cryptocurrency market has recently got much more media coverage. Investors and mainstream media outlets from all over the world are rapidly adopting Bitcoin. This drives the price high. Bitcoin has hit a new all-time high of 2999.91, according to the CoinMarketCap’s Bitcoin Price Index. The market capitalization has reached $46 billion.

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