Dapper Labs, a company behind NFTs such as CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, UFC Strike and Flow blockchain, has confirmed that it is cutting off payment services for non-fungible owners with ties to Russia, said the move is due to New EU sanctions on Russia.

The NFT company said it is blocking Russian accounts from buying, selling or gifting NFTs, as well as making other NFT purchases or withdrawals from the platform. Dapper stated: “It is now prohibited to provide wallet, account or custody services for crypto assets of any value to accounts with connections to Russia.”

Dapper explained that the sanctions prohibit companies from providing cryptocurrency wallet and custody services to accounts associated with Russian users. The company said its business services offering is based in the EU, which has ordered it to comply with sanctions.

The Vancouver-based firm said that while affected users cannot move funds, gift tokens, sell NFTs or buy new ones, they still own their assets on the platform and can continue to view them.

The announcement comes after several cryptocurrency users filed complaints that they were unable to access their accounts and even showed an email communication from Dapper Labs about the restrictions.

Last Thursday, the European Union introduced another wave of sanctions against Russia due to the prolonged invasion of Ukraine. The new sanctions imposed a complete ban on cross-border crypto payments between the Russians and the EU. The ban bans all cryptocurrency wallets, accounts, or custody services, regardless of the amount of funds in the wallet.

The EU introduced the new sanctions in response to Russia’s continuing escalation of conflicts in Ukraine. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the EU has continued to craft sanctions packages against Russia in a bid to close possible loopholes that could allow the Russians to move funds abroad.

The latest sanctions come shortly after Russian officials approved the use of cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments. At the end of the month, the Russian Central Bank and the Russian Ministry of Finance approved crypto payments for cross-border use. In this way, it will help the country to evade the multiple financial sanctions that have been imposed on it.

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