The City Court of Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, overturned the earlier decision of a court to ban 40 Bitcoin sites in the Russian Federation, reported local news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday, February 27.

In July 2017, the Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg granted the prosecutor’s request to block 40 Bitcoin sites in St. Petersburg.

Earlier in March 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of St. Petersburg submitted a lawsuit to ban websites such as Bestchange. ru and 24paybank. com because they “spread information on digital currency” which “is not backed by any real asset and does not provide information about its owners.”

As a result, the Oktyabrsky District Court has ruled to ban 40 sites, based on the argument that:

“Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, are a money substitute contributing to the growth of the informal economy, and cannot be used by citizens and legal entities in the Russian Federation. The free flow of information about digital currencies implies active use of cryptocurrencies in trafficking illicit drugs, illegal weapons, forged documents, and other criminal activities.”

On Tuesday, the City Court of St. Petersburg re-examined the appeal filed by the Moscow Digital Rights Center and revoked the decision. According to a representative of the press service, another body of the Court will meet to evaluate the case.

On the same day, February 27, Bill Gates caused a stir at Reddit when he claimed that cryptocurrencies were being used to purchase drugs and “caused deaths in a fairly direct way.

Earlier this week, Cointelegraph reported that the creator of the cryptocurrency PRISM, Yuri Mayorov, was kidnapped in Moscow and robbed of 300 bit coins, about $3 million at press time, as well as $20,000 and three iPhones.

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