European cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp restored access to its site for Russia-based users. The company decided to offer a temporary discount on the commission services to its Russian traders.

Bitstamp announced the removal of blocking in its Twitter account. It also notified its Russia-based customers via an official e-mail. The letter states among other things that “Russian customers who held an active account with Bitstamp on 14th January 2016 will receive commission free trading until 1st March 2016,” as a sign of appreciation for their “patience and trust.”

Bitstamp blocked accounts of Russian customers in mid-January. A few days after Bitstamp sent a letter to its users explaining its actions:

“Bitstamp has been informed that the Russian government is prohibiting access to Bitstamp’s website for all of our Russian customers. We deeply regret this inconvenience, and will attempt to resolve this situation as soon as possible. All Bitstamp accounts remain safe and secure.”

The letter also stated that Bitstamp, seeking to “protect our valued customers in Russia… has decided to temporarily block access to its website from Russian IP addresses until we can assess the situation with more clarity.”

Bitstamp was included in the list of restricted sites by the Russian Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) due to a court decision in November 2015, but its status on the list was “access not restricted”. This status means that Russian authorities have sent a warning to the site demanding to remove some pages. That’s why Russian providers didn’t block the access to Bitstamp.

Elena Platonova