Venezuela Blocks Binance and X Amidst Election Dispute and Unrest

Venezuela government has blocked access to Binance, X, and other online services following unrest over disputed presidential election results, leading to concerns about censorship and access to crypto platforms.

Venezuela is currently grappling with significant political unrest following the disputed results of the July 28 presidential election. Amid this turmoil, the government has taken drastic measures, blocking access to several online services, including the popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance and the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

On August 9, VE sin Filtro, a local anti-censorship organization, reported that it had detected a DNS block on Binance, which has disrupted the normal operation of its website and mobile application within Venezuela. This block comes at a time when many Venezuelans rely heavily on Binance’s peer-to-peer (P2P) service to exchange cash for cryptocurrency as a means to escape the country’s hyperinflation.

Binance’s Latin America-focused X account acknowledged the access restrictions on August 10, assuring users that their funds remained safe and that the company was closely monitoring the situation to resolve it as quickly as possible. The exchange’s P2P service is particularly vital in Venezuela, where the local currency, the bolívar, has been severely devalued due to rampant inflation.

VE sin Filtro has recommended that Venezuelans use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to bypass the block and regain access to the affected services.

The government’s actions against Binance and X were part of a broader crackdown following the election. On August 8, President Nicolas Maduro ordered the country’s telecommunications regulator, Conatel, to block access to X for ten days. This directive came after a public spat between Maduro and X owner Elon Musk, where both men exchanged heated challenges.

In addition to Binance and X, the encrypted messaging app Signal was also blocked on the same day. However, according to internet monitoring project NetBlocks, Signal remains functional for users who enable the app’s “censorship circumvention” setting.

The election itself has been a source of significant controversy. Both Maduro and his rival, Edmundo González, have claimed victory. The government-controlled electoral authority declared Maduro the winner with just over 51% of the vote but refused to release detailed vote counts. González, on the other hand, claims that voting machine printouts collected by his party show that he won nearly 70% of the vote.

In the wake of the disputed results, Venezuela has witnessed widespread protests, with many citizens demanding transparency and accountability. Internationally, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and several South American countries have refused to recognize Maduro’s claim to the presidency, calling for a detailed vote count to resolve the dispute.

The situation in Venezuela remains tense, with concerns about increasing censorship and the potential for further unrest as the election dispute continues to unfold.

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