Dapper Labs has announced that from this week onwards, Russian accounts on its payments platform will not be able to carry out transactions. The firm made this decision after the EU’s sanction was announced towards the end of last week. According to the EU statement, the newest level of sanctions on Russia will see firms restrict the accounts and wallets of firms and individuals of traders and residents in the country.
Dapper Labs faults EU directive for the move
Dapper Labs announced that it was mandated to follow the directive of the EU by some of its partners involved in processing and storage. The platform specializes in NFT services, providing support to accounts across multiple countries. It mentioned that its partners were based in Europe and would have to obey the directive of the European Union. In its press conference, Dapper Labs mentioned that it has now been prohibited from providing services to accounts with ties to Russia.
Failure to abide by the said rule will attract penalties and ramifications. The platform also clarified that the said accounts are suspended and have not been deleted from the platform. Users affected by the suspension will not be able to access the platform or carry out activities involving some of the NFTs on the platform, including NBA Top Shot.
Russia axes OKX from the country
Dapper Labs also clarified that funds belonging to users would not be released, transferred, or used to make purchases. However, Russian account holders will be able to view all the digital arts that they hold. The company also claimed that even if the users cannot sell their NFTs for the time being, they would be able to hold and view them. The company announced that all their owned assets and funds will still belong to them, pending when a directive to release their accounts is made.
The EU sanction is an upgrade to the previous one, which targeted accounts carrying more than €10,000 in transactions. Russia has also announced that it has suspended the operating license of OKX across the country. This move is part of a larger one to eliminate crypto services across the country. With the new sanction in place, there is a likelihood that more companies will announce suspensions of accounts tied to Russian holders. This could threaten companies in the long run as they seek to abide by rules and regulations in an already complicated sector.
