Venezuela’s government has blocked access to the crypto exchange Binance, social media platform X, and other online services amid unrest over disputed presidential election results. On August 9, local anti-censorship organization VE sin Filtro reported a DNS block on Binance, affecting the operation of its website and mobile app.
In an August 10 post, Binance’s Latin American-focused account confirmed access restrictions to its pages, along with other websites in Venezuela, including social networks. The exchange assured users that their funds are safe and stated that it is “monitoring the situation closely to address it in the best and quickest way possible.” Binance’s peer-to-peer service is especially popular in Venezuela, allowing users to exchange cash for crypto as a means to offload the highly inflated Venezuelan bolívar currency. VE sin Filtro advised Venezuelans to use a virtual private network (VPN) to bypass the block.
The block on Binance came a day after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the telecommunications regulator Conatel to ban access to X for ten days. Maduro and X owner Elon Musk have recently engaged in a public spat, with both challenging each other to a fight. The encrypted messaging app Signal was also blocked on the same day, according to NetBlocks, though it remains functional with its “censorship circumvention” setting enabled.
Venezuela has experienced widespread protests following the July 28 presidential election, 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 did not release a detailed vote count. González argued that the voting machine printouts his party collected showed he won with nearly 70% of the vote. The United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and multiple South American countries have not recognized Maduro’s claim to the presidency and have called for detailed vote counts.