As reported by Russian media, a magistrate court in Moscow has imposed fines on the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The court specifically fined Coinbase one million rubles or $10,848 for its failure to localize the data of Russian citizens within the Russian Federation.
The court found Coinbase guilty of administrative offenses under Part 8 of Art. 13.11 of the Russian Federation’s Code of Administrative Offenses. This article pertains to the failure of data operators to ensure the recording, systematization, accumulation, and storage of personal data of Russian citizens within the country.
Additionally, the report highlighted that the fines imposed were the minimum for such offenses, with potential penalties reaching six million rubles or $65,090.
Moreover, it emphasized that this decision is part of a series of comparable fines imposed by the same court on other notable technology and communication companies. In mid-October, the court imposed a 15 million ruble fine on Zoom, a video communication service, for consistently refusing to localize Russian user data.
Conversely, the Russian court also fined Telegram, a popular messaging app, 50,000 rubles in late August. Other companies, including Spotify, Apple, WhatsApp, Match Group (owner of Tinder), Airbnb, Google, Twitch, and Pinterest, have faced penalties for non-compliance with Russia’s data localization laws.
It’s important to note that Coinbase is not the sole recipient of the recent financial sanction from Russia. The court also fined the international association AIDA one million rubles. Meanwhile, the report highlighted that these fines on prominent tech firms are a result of a directive from Russia’s federal executive body responsible for media and telecommunications.
In May, the executive body mandated foreign services to localize databases of Russian users in the country by July 1. Additionally, it mentioned that approximately 600 foreign company offices in Russia have adhered to the regulations for localizing the storage of data belonging to Russian citizens.
