OpenSea Blocks Iranian Users Without Notice In Light Of US Sanctions

Decentralized NFT marketplace OpenSea has reportedly started to block users based in Iran without any prior notification.

What Happened: A number of frustrated users based in Iran took to Twitter Inc TWTR on Thursday to complain about not being able to access their accounts on the OpenSea platform.

Users reported that their entire account history had been erased and their verified NFT collections had been taken down.

“OpenSea blocks users and territories on the U.S. sanctions list from using our services, including buying, selling, or transferring NFTs on OpenSea. If we find individuals to be in violation of our sanctions policy, we take swift action to ban the associated accounts,” an OpenSea spokesperson said in a statement to CoinDesk.

Existing sanctions against prevent any U.S. company from providing goods and services to users based in Iran, North Korea, Syria and Russia.

OpenSea is the world’s largest decentralized marketplace with over $22 million in sales. The marketplace was originally built on the Ethereum ETH/USD blockchain and now offers support for Polygon MATIC/USD and Klatyn.

In January, Benzinga reported the NFT marketplace was in talks to raise funds at a $13-billion valuation.