The war between Ukraine and Russia is forcing individuals to take sides. It is not comfortable for the crypto community because it means that if people or projects take the West side against Russia then they also have to comply with the sanctions. It can be difficult for crypto blockchains which are supposed to be decentralized systems and claim to be distributed, borderless, and free of censorship.

As per CoinMarketCap for example, OpenSea is an NFT marketplace that is not a decentralized project but it is very often described as a marketplace that is peer-to-peer decentralized for trading digital goods, their buying, and selling.

But, recently when OpenSea has banned Iranian users from using the NFT trading marketplace by complying with the sanctions law of the United States, it incensed resentment among many NFT collectors.

It raised questions like is the people and government officials are focusing more on crypto regulations, specially due to Russia and Ukraine war outbreak? OpenSea provoked some of its community by banning Iranian users, but what choice does it have?

Furthermore, where large crypto companies based in the United States such as Consensys, Coinbase, FTX, and OpenSea have been complying with regulations and sanctions of U.S. what regarding decentralized marketplaces that do not have any identifiable headquarters, nation or leaders affiliated. Would or could they abide too or they will get past?

Finally, the long-term question is, do we have a truly decentralized marketplace ever? Isn’t cryptoverse have to compromise a little bit with centralized institutes such as sovereign governments?

CEO of Swan.com Cory Klippsten has told the news media when asked about the current events that, recently government officials have been taking more interest in crypto regulations, adding that important discussions about regulations have been in progress now for many years. We are seeing more people concerning the developments regarding crypto regulations, as Russia-Ukraine War has brought the crypto business into the spotlight.

The principal at a consulting firm and an attorney Markus Hammer informed the news media that, regulators from the United States are pressurizing the largest players in the crypto business to abide by the regulations and sanctions placed by the U.S. and now to some degree decentralized crypto spaces as well. Maybe that is the reason why OpenSea last week slammed the Iranian users, despite the sanctions re-imposed on Iranians in 2020.

According to Markus Hammer, until recently many of the decentralized crypto platforms never thought of the market regulations.