Dapper Labs, the creators of the Flow blockchain network and projects like Cryptokitties and NBA Top Shot, has complied with the new restrictive measures imposed by the European Union in response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
Following the most recent escalation of the war, in which Russia announced a partial mobilization and began taking steps to annex four regions of Ukraine through what the EU views as fraudulent referendums, Brussels adopted the eighth package of EU sanctions on Thursday, October 6.
The penalties, targeting the Russian economy, Government, and foreign trade, also feature financial measures affecting the business activities of crypto companies. The latter have been prohibited from providing any wallet, account, or custody services to Russian nationals.
The limits are more stringent than the fifth series of penalties, which were implemented earlier this year, and only applied to “high-value” crypto-asset services or those for crypto holdings above €10,000 ($11,000 at the time).
Dapper Labs explained, “Our payment processing and stored value service partner is subject to EU regulations and has directed us to take action on all accounts held by those impacted by the Oct. 6 restrictions, consistent with EU law.”
The company further stated that as a result, it has had to suspend accounts with connections to Russia from the purchase, sale, or gifting of any Moment across all Dapper Sports, any withdrawals from Dapper accounts, and Dapper balance purchases.
However, the NFT platform also made clear that the accounts had not been shut down. Users that are affected can get to them and see their tokens. They will also keep any NFTs they have already bought.
Dapper apologized and guaranteed, “Any Moments you own and any Dapper Balance continue to be your own.”
Other crypto companies with a presence in Europe are likely to adopt similar measures but the restrictions may not affect all global platforms. For example, Binance has reportedly informed users in Russia it did not introduce new restrictions, according to Russian crypto media. That’s despite the world’s largest crypto exchange complying with the previous round of European crypto sanctions.