Venezuela Blocks Binance and X Amid Election Dispute

In a dramatic turn of events, Venezuela’s government has blocked access to the popular crypto exchange Binance, along with social media platform X, as tensions rise over disputed presidential election results.

On August 9, local anti-censorship group VE sin Filtro reported a DNS block on Binance, affecting the exchange’s website and mobile app. Similar access restrictions have impacted several other websites in Venezuela, including social networks. Binance reassured its users that their funds are safe and is closely monitoring the situation to address it as quickly as possible.

Binance’s peer-to-peer (P2P) service, widely used in Venezuela to trade the highly inflated bolívar for crypto, has also been impacted. VE sin Filtro advised users to utilize a VPN to bypass the block.

This move by the Venezuelan government follows a public spat between President Nicolas Maduro and X owner Elon Musk, with Maduro ordering a 10-day block of X in the country. Encrypted messaging app Signal was also blocked, though it remains accessible with its censorship circumvention setting enabled.

These actions come in the wake of controversial election results, where both Maduro and rival Edmundo González claimed victory. The government-controlled electoral authority declared Maduro the winner with just over 51% of the vote, but González’s camp disputes this, claiming they have proof of a 70% win.

The international community, including the U.S., EU, UK, and several South American nations, has not recognized Maduro’s victory and is calling for a detailed vote count.

Stay tuned as the situation unfolds, with significant implications for both the political landscape and crypto access in Venezuela.

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