Amid the post-election unrest, the Venezuelan government has restricted access to several websites, including that of crypto exchange Binance.
A few days back, electoral authorities unveiled that Nicolás Maduro was re-elected as President by claiming a majority of around 51% of the votes. However, substantial proof was not provided.
The opposition, meanwhile, published a fully detailed election report chalking out how their candidate, Edmundo González, emerged victorious.
The lack of clarity pertaining to the result has triggered unrest, leading to several protests nationwide. To combat the situation, Maduro has been sending protestors behind bars and blocking access to websites via indigenous communications firm, CANTV.
Social media platforms like X, e-commerce platforms like MercadoLibre, and encrypted communication tools like Signal, were among the other websites that have been taken down.
Alongside a post on X, Binance users were also emailed about the current state of affairs. The exchange's team underlined,
“Like several websites of companies from different segments in Venezuela, including social networks, Binance pages have been facing access restrictions. We are monitoring the situation closely to address it in the best and quickest way possible.”
The team further assured users that their funds are safe and secure.
Native anti-censorship firm VE sin Filtro brought to light that in a DNS block, the DNS server of the internet provider does not provide the IP address, preventing users' computer from connecting. Thus, it recommended using a VPN to bypass the censorship restriction.
Elaborating on why, the team noted,
“Although it can be circumvented by changing the DNS, this is not effective against other types of blocks applied by CANTV and other ISPs. Sometimes they even add forms of blocking on top of others, which is why we recommend using a VPN.”
The bolivar, the local currency of Venezuela, has consistently been shedding value against the US dollar. Over the past year alone, it has depreciated by 18%.
In retrospect, citizens have been fleeing toward store-of-value assets like Bitcoin and stablecoins, with Binance being their go-to exchange platform. The current restriction, in turn, has not been received well by the locals.
