According to the MetaMask blog posted Thursday, two core elements of the Ethereum ecosystem, including NFTs, MetaMask and Infura have stopped servicing users in “specific jurisdictions for compliance.”
MetaMask is the most popular crypto wallet for Ethereum users, including NFT traders. It is owned by the same parent company as Infura, a centralized API that feeds MetaMask data from the Ethereum blockchain. MetaMask’s blog post appeared to hold certain Infura users accountable for blocking.
“By default, MetaMask accesses the blockchain via Infura, which is not available in certain jurisdictions due to legal compliance,” said a brief blog. According to MetaMask, blocked users will see a message that the wallet cannot connect to the blockchain host when they try to use the wallet. The MetaMask blog contained links to user-friendly instructions for restoring crypto wallets elsewhere using seed phrases.
For countries affected by the ban, social media began flooding with reports Thursday morning that Venezuelan users were no longer able to use MetaMask. The motherboard downloaded MetaMask and set it up from scratch using VPN routing via Venezuela. I wasn’t able to actually send the transaction, but there was no interruption. MetaMask and Infura spokespersons did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MetaMask and Infura may not be alone. There are also reports that Iranian users’ social media is blocked by OpenSea. “Not gm at all” Tweeted the user Go by Bornosor.eth on Thursday. “I woke up @ High seas Trading accounts have been deactivated / deleted without notice or explanation, and many other Iranian artists and collectors have heard similar reports. What the hell is going on? Is the OS now wiping out users based on their own country? ”
NFT artist Palin Haydari report In response to Bornosor.eth’s tweet, the NFT collection at OpenSea is now 404. Haydari tweeted that they are Iranians, but haven’t lived there for years and are now based in Italy.
“What you are doing to our artist is much worse than that. [Iran’s government] I did it to us. ” Haydari tweeted.. “Because you think you’re a decentralized platform. If you don’t care about Iranian artists, that’s fine. At least care about our non-Iranian collectors.”
The motherboard tried to connect to OpenSea using VPN routing through Iran, but received the error message “Access is denied”. An OpenSea spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MetaMask and Infura are probably at the center of the debate about how centralized the decentralized crypto world is really. In her last year’s blog post, Signal developer Moxie Marlinspike revealed that MetaMask relies not only on Infura but also on the NFT marketplace OpenSea to display NFTs. MetaMask was unable to display the new NFT when the service was recently stopped in OpenSea.
The new ban on users in certain places has brought to the fore the topic, especially in the midst of sanctions against Russian individuals and groups during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, so about centralization of the crypto industry. It is certain to trigger a new round of discussion. The exchange states that it complies with all existing sanctions while making the service available to Russian and Ukrainian citizens as well. Anyway, U.S. politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have expressed concern about Russia’s use of crypto to avoid sanctions, despite the lack of evidence, in imposing sanctions in the crypto industry. I sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance asking what the department’s capabilities are in.
Joseph Cox contributed to the report.
