- Metamask abruptly halted its services in Venezuela last night citing compliance issues
- The sudden abruption in services prompted Venezuelans and Iranians to tag MetaMask on Twitter, seeking quick redressal to the problem.
- MetaMask later revealed the issue had resulted due to a misconfiguration which has now been resolved
Several MetaMask users based in Venezuela had posted complaints on social media last night stating that they were unable to access their MetaMask wallet.
The users complained that they were getting error messages repeatedly while trying to log back into their MetaMask accounts.
MetaMask Accidentally Suspends Services In Venezuela
The leading Ethereum based wallet made headlines last night when it “accidentally” suspended its services in Venezuela. The Venezuelan citizens were quick to point out their inability to access the wallet and took to Twitter to demand a rapid redressal of the problem.
One Twitter user expressed his dissatisfaction on social media by uploading a snapshot of the MetaMask query page stating the reasons why it blocks services in certain countries citing “legal compliance issues”
It was later revealed that Infura, which is a service provider used by MetaMask, had suspended its services in Venezuela, rendering the crypto wallet inaccessible in the nation temporarily.
In addition to this, it was also revealed that several Iranian users were also blocked from accessing OpenSea, which is one of the leading NFT marketplaces. The Iranian NFT enthusiasts took to Twitter to express their discontent.
As reported by Forbes, “OpenSea blocks users and territories on the U.S. sanctions list from using our services–including buying, selling, or transferring NFTs on OpenSea–and our Terms of Service explicitly prohibit sanctioned users or users in sanctioned territories from using our services.”
Several crypto critics suggested that the bans may have something to do with the sanctions on Iran and Venezuela imposed by the US. The White House had recently issued sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
MetaMask Restores Services In Venezuela
Later, MetaMask’s service provider Infura took to Twitter to inform its users that the wallet had lapsed temporarily due to a misconfiguration made by Infura, as a result of “the new sanctions directives from the United States and other jurisdictions.”
Infura further stated that in their bid to comply with sanctions imposed by the United States, they configured their settings in a “broader manner” than it needed to be. According to MetaMask, the services in Venezuela have been restored.