DeFi subjected to criticism post users’ access denial to decentralised exchanges
While decentralised finance (DeFi) is believed to be an upgrade for traditional finance mechanisms, certain users feel that denial of access to decentralised exchanges based on their wallets can be a backward move, as reported by Cointelegraph.
According to Cointelegraph, entrepreneur Brad Mills heaped criticism towards denying users access to decentralised exchanges (DEXs) on account of factors such as location and wallet content. Mills mentioned Web3.0’s future as a “surveillance panopticon” and said it has rebuilt everything wrong with Wall Street but on a blockchain. Through the tweet, Mills also shared an image of a pop-up message from 1inch Network’s decentralised application (dApp) preventing access because of the wallet address utilised.
“Users’ wallets which are owned or associated with clearly illegal behavior like: sanctions, terrorism financing, hacked or stolen funds, human trafficking, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) are prevented from interacting with the 1inch dApp,” Sergey Maslennikov, chief communications officer, 1inch, said.
On the basis of information by Cointelegraph, Maslennikov highlighted that the DeFi aggregator follows all applicable sanctions and embargo lists. Apart from this, the DEX also complies with anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing prevention regulations, along with efforts by the global community. Recently, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mentioned that the countries not complying with rules for cryptocurrency AML may be placed on the watchdog’s grey list which is subjected to increased monitoring. Reportedly, there are 23 countries on the list, including cryptocurrency hubs such as the United Arab Emirates and the Phillipines.
Moreover, Cointelegraph noted that a United Nations (UN) official emphasised on terrorists’ preference to use cash over cryptocurrency. Svetlana Martynova, countering financing of terrorism coordinator, UN, mentioned in a meeting that terrorists can adjust themselves to new technologies, including cryptocurrency.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)
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