OpenSea shuts down Cuban artists due to US sanctions

Innovations in the policy of the marketplace of non-fungible OpenSea tokens have limited access to the platform to customers and organizations from Cuba. Artnet Report Says About 30 Cuban NFT Creators And Collectors Already Banned. The most notable artists affected by the restrictions were Havana-based Gabriel Guerra Bianchini and Fabrice de Arto Cubano. The terms of service of OpenSea stipulate that customers who are under sanctions or who live in the so-called sub-sanctioned territories are prohibited from operating on the marketplace.. Such bans also apply to citizens of countries such as Russia, Syria, Venezuela and Iran: “We continue to reasonably assess the measures that need to be taken for the sustainable development of the platform and compliance with applicable laws.” The NFT Cuba Art Twitter account recently posted that OpenSea has blocked Cubans from viewing and posting art, but they still have access to their wallets.. Bit Remasa founder Eric Garcia Cruz revealed that Cuban NFT collections were also banned. Cuban crypto enthusiast Gabriel Bianchini announced that the future of Web3 now “doesn’t look decentralized.” In addition to OpenSea, a number of sites were forced to close access to Russian participants after the EU imposed a series of sanctions against Russia in 2022. Large intermediaries, including trading platforms, are most often centralized. While decentralized protocols do not need any regulation, says the head of the Coinbase exchange, Brian Armstrong.