{"id":2965758,"date":"2023-11-01T07:30:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T11:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/plato-data\/walletconnect-restricts-service-in-russia-following-ofac-guidance\/"},"modified":"2023-11-01T07:30:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T11:30:57","slug":"walletconnect-restricts-service-in-russia-following-ofac-guidance","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/plato-data\/walletconnect-restricts-service-in-russia-following-ofac-guidance\/","title":{"rendered":"WalletConnect restricts service in Russia following OFAC guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"
Web3 communication protocol WalletConnect has restricted Russian users from using its service following recent sanctions by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIn light of the latest legal and OFAC guidance, WalletConnect has restricted the availability of the WalletConnect Protocol in Russia. Certain regions of Ukraine were temporarily impacted; service has since resumed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
On Oct. 31, WalletConnect\u2019s CEO Pedro Gomes confirmed that the restrictions complied with the updated OFAC guidelines and were kickstarted on Oct. 30.<\/p>\n
According to Gomes, the platform had restricted access to its services for some parts of Ukraine. However, these restrictions have been lifted as of press time.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the CEO debunked rumors that the protocol blocked users from other non-sanctioned countries, saying, \u201cWe can confirm that no other countries were blocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crypto community displeased<\/span><\/h2>\n
Meanwhile, members of the crypto community have expressed displeasure at WalletConnect\u2019s new move, pointing out that it contradicts the tenets of decentralization.<\/p>\n
An X user, Krakovia, said<\/span><\/a>, \u201cVery cringe. Seems you\u2019re not all in for web3, after all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Crypto developer Naim Boubziz said<\/a>:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhat is the OFAC document specifying this obligation? I\u2019m curious to read the document that mentions the limitation of a messaging protocol such as WalletConnect.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Similarly, other users noted<\/span><\/a> that the restriction might not be effective as the affected users can simply use a VPN.<\/p>\n
OFAC Sanctions on Crypto-related Entities <\/span><\/h2>\n
Notably, WalletConnect\u2019s action comes following a recent update of the OFAC sanctions list for entities participating in the Russia\/Ukraine war, as well as that of Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n
Over time, OFAC has engaged in different strategie<\/a>s to curb the illicit usage of crypto to support war efforts. Some of the strategies include the listing of certain crypto companies on the sanctions list.<\/p>\n
The authorities recently sanctioned<\/span> <\/a>a Gaza-based crypto company for allegedly facilitating crypto transactions for Hamas terrorists.<\/p>\n
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- Source:<\/span> https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/walletconnect-restricts-service-in-russia-following-ofac-guidance\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2965759,"template":"Default","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","type":"","auto_type":false,"post":"","stream":"","stream_url":"","waveform_data":[],"duration":0,"start":0,"end":0,"bpm":0,"downloadable":false,"download_url":"","purchase_title":"","purchase_url":"","post-count-all":0,"like_count":0,"download_count":0,"editor_note":"","copyright":"","captions":[],"sources":[]},"genre":[41],"station_tag":[21246,38012,33649,69529,71137,48576,13775,3880,4042,76914,39830,3761,3881,18340,48552,3683,48553,28443,4605,48554,68863,40607,48555,48563,3764,12200,69338,4557,3690,3889,3830,27509,40589,9883,3890,3641,25108,41728,18737,32026,41043,4157,5167,34237,4167,10900,40376,11048,12385,40527,9874,48556,11947,13776,48833,5531,69445,76917,48557,12342,3650,10965,40448,19265,10371,5647,3653,48564,48558,11695,3703,4199,27203,4659,13170,3911,3912,4452,5853,4256,12343,3706,20482,69361,70650,36224,48559,19955,13286,48560,3663,69348,31972,40186,40587,3861,7457,8453,9642,3664,8335,15551,13774,12622,39973,40463,24173,10579,3974,5309,20074,48565,5535,69525,40178,9768,3975,40082,12444,11458,9677,39843,3669,41569,77000,48561,13215,48566,68948,3671,19267,3753,3981,5412,5101,27166,37458,10367,30318,3755,69023,5367,4777,7893,48571,68963,48562,4927,14555],"artist":[5990],"mood":[],"activity":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station\/2965758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/station"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2965759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2965758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=2965758"},{"taxonomy":"station_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station_tag?post=2965758"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=2965758"},{"taxonomy":"mood","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mood?post=2965758"},{"taxonomy":"activity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/activity?post=2965758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}