In compliance with US sanctions law, OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, is removing the accounts of Cuban artists and collectors from its platform.

A recent statement from the company confirms previous suspicions that its platform discriminates against Cuban users.

Sanctions Compliance

In an email received by News, an OpenSea spokesperson clarified that the company prohibits the use of its platform by “sanctioned persons, persons in sanctioned jurisdictions or services.” That extends to countries like Cuba, as well as Venezuela, Iran and Syria.

The confirmation is a blow to Cuban artists who took advantage of NFTs to profit as the asset class grew in 2021, especially after money from tourists in the region dried up due to pandemic travel restrictions. Earlier this year, NBC News interviewed Ernesto Cisneros – A Cuban musician who revived his music business by tokenizing his music and videos and selling them for money over the internet.

Another beneficiary artist was the photographer Gabriel Bianchini, whose work has been presented at the Havana Biennial and the MIA Photography Fair in Milan. Its NFT Hotel Havana, which contrasts with the colorful and decadent buildings of the Cuban capital, sold out within days of listing.

Speaking with Artnet News, Bianchini explained that technology has helped people like him navigate the difficult economic and political climate of the past two years. “This technology was a liberation, not only economic but creative, a bridge that allowed Cuban artists to connect with the world,” he said.

The restrictions appear to extend even to the Cuban diaspora. NFTCuba.ART, a website promoting the NFT drops of Cuban artists, claims to have had their OpenSea profile disabled.

long time since we posted, unfortunate that this post has to be this.@open sea has disabled our profile.

Not only Cubans on the island, but those with other nationalities have to endure censorship in the web3 company.

Buying art from Cubans is not prohibited by the US embargo pic.twitter.com/7cccbmjNWR

— NFTcuba.ART 🇨🇺 (@nftcubaart) December 12, 2022

“Your account has been disabled due to activity that goes against our Terms of Service,” read an OpenSea notice received by the group. “This means that you can no longer access OpenSea with your account.”

A notice on the group’s website notes that OpenSea’s ban on its account is “sad and unfortunate” and was probably only enacted “because it has the name of Cuba and they fear sanctions.”

Against the principles of Web3?

One of the basic principles of Web3 is the extension of financial services to everyone, regardless of their nationality or geographical borders. As such, some users interpreted the OpenSea ban as going against those principles, and surprising given that it was encouraging for Cuban artists not too long ago.

OpenSea has just banned Cuba and other sanctioned countries from its platform.

That goes against web3’s core values ​​of equal access and opportunity for all.

They keep adding reasons not to use SO 😂

– threadoor.eth 🧵👇 (@threadoor) December 23, 2022

However, others expected this result. Cuban NFT artist Yordanis Garcia Delgado told Artnet News that he “saw it coming,” adding that “it’s very hard to be decentralized and not accountable” in the face of US sanctions.

NFTs are difficult to directly monetize without some form of exchange or centralized marketplace to facilitate trades. On the other hand, fungible and divisible cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether are easier to conduct direct transactions for goods and services, making it more difficult to apply penalties on such transactions.

crypto potato reported in May that more than 100,000 Cubans turned to cryptocurrencies to bypass centralized payment service providers that must comply with sanctions law. However, Chainalysis maintains that it is too difficult for large-scale parties such as national governments to circumvent such restrictions using cryptography.