EtherFi founder and CEO Mike Silagadze sent a letter to the OpenSea platform team expressing his dissatisfaction with the platform’s decision. Silagadze wrote that the collection launch went well, with about 3,000 non-interchangeable EtherFan tokens issued during the day. However, they were removed from the platform without warning. The developers attempted to contact OpenSea, but didn’t receive a response until days later.
The OpenSea support team explained that NFT collections related to financial activities that were not registered or licensed could not be hosted on the platform. Since EtherFan tokens are wrapped ethers that are staked, they fall into this category.
Silagadze said in response that his team had previously contacted the platform before launching collectible tokens, and had received permission.
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“OpenSea operates an unlicensed casino where people engage in ruinous gambling and spend millions on images of monkeys. At the same time, the site refuses to host tokens that could actually be useful,” EtherFan’s founder is outraged.
The businessman does not consider the platform’s actions to be malice. He attributes this to the growing scale of the site and the desire not to violate regulatory requirements. Given that OpenSea is a large organization, – it is acting more and more cautiously to avoid risks. And yet, OpenSea failed to notify EtherFi management that its product might violate the Terms of Service, resents Mike Silagazde.
OpenSea’s platform has faced user complaints before. Last year, it cut off access to Cuban artists due to U.S. sanctions, angering local crypto-enthusiasts. Earlier this year, an OpenSea user sued the site for a three-month lockout of his account that resulted in him losing $500,000.