Jasz
VIP Contributor
It comes as the U.S. ramps up sanctions against the country, with new measures announced this week targeting its central bank, national development fund and "other means of financing terrorism."
"In an effort to comply with international laws and regulations, we have taken the unfortunate step of blocking our services from Iran," OpenSea co-founder Devin Finzer told CoinDesk. ". "This action affects Iran only, and they are working to restore access as soon as possible."
The action was first reported by The Block on Thursday.
Finzer said the move was taken "out of an abundance of caution" as well as in "an effort to be fully compliant with U.S. sanctions law." However, he added that OpenSea's legal team is working on getting authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) so that it can again service Iranian users.
Since OpenSea deals in ERC-721 tokens—non-fungible tokens that represent digital assets that cannot be exchanged—it's not clear what services it renders Iranians who have been banned from its site are missing out on. But since users can buy items like artwork and collectibles using the platform, the ban may affect some Iranians' ability to use those assets in other parts of their lives—or even sell them off for cash if need be.
