OpenSea Blocks Cuban Artists Over US Sanctions – 24/7 Wall St.

Following 60 years of sanctions against Cuba, the Biden administration renewed its trade ban on the neighboring island in September. At the end of the year, this spilled over into his largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, where more than 30 Cuban creators were banned.

Do trade embargoes ban NFT art?

The White House on September 2nd, memo Concerning the continuation of the exercise of certain powers under the Enemy Trade Act. This makes Biden the 12th president to extend the trade embargo on Cuba, currently set for September 14, 2023, for a new extension.

The memorandum refers to the enforcement of Cuba’s asset management regulations, 31 CFR Part 515Non-U.S.-based informational materials or artistic modifications are prohibited under exempt transactions. This includes “royalty payments to designated nationals on income received for enhancements or modifications made by persons subject to United States jurisdiction.”

As a result, OpenSea soon began banning Cuban artists.Largest NFT marketplace, handling 66% One full transaction volume as of October clearly states in the terms of service that if a user is “subject to sanctions enforced by any agency of the United States government,” the user’s account will be suspended.

Banned Cuban Creators

The first major NFT collective to hit was NFTcuba.ART, which lists over 70 artists. OpenSea has deactivated your account, but you can still access your wallet. According to the Community’s interpretation of the US embargo on Cuba, the art trade should not be susceptible to the ban.

Another NFT collective, Bit Remasa, was also delisted from the NFT collection by OpenSea.Interestingly, Bit Remasa founder Erich Garcia Cruz also Screenshot of PancakeSwap.Finance Refuse service for “unavailable for legal reasons”.

Cruz suggests this de-platforming as “decentralized finance. Oil on canvas” and DeFi as an intangible veneer. PancakeSwap describes itself as “the most popular decentralized platform in the galaxy” and currently $3.1 billion With Total Value Lock (TVL).

Artists excluded from the list also include some of the most popular Cuban names such as Gabriel Guerra Bianchini. He is known for his first NFT auction starting from Cuba in March 2021. Hotel Havana 3/10 NFT It is currently nowhere on OpenSea.

Is decentralized finance a misnomer?

U.S. Treasury Department Licensed Tornado Cache The August Privacy Protocol revealed some important implications.

• Even if a smart contract runs on a public blockchain, it can block the path from the blockchain to the end user.Specifically, this Infura blocking RPC A service between a smart contract and a user’s MetaMask wallet.
• Stablecoin funds as centralized assets under bank control can also be frozendespite being the foundation of the DeFi protocol for lending and borrowing.
• Regardless of whether a company is centralized (OpenSea) or decentralized (PancakeSwap), its management enforces US regulations, even preemptively.

For example, PancakeSwap is supported by Binance. corporate complianceThe situation with OpenSea’s delisting of Cuban artists is further compounded by Devin Finther and Alex Ataler setting up a company in New York City, the first state to ban fossil fuel-based cryptocurrency mining, in November. Clear.

So DeFi could be narrowed down to platforms with smart contracts rather than human intermediaries. Otherwise, for DeFi to work as originally envisioned without geolocks, the entire stack would have to be decentralized.

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