Cryptocurrency Exchange Uphold Leaves Venezuela Due to US Sanctions – Uphold, a cryptocurrency exchange and stock trading platform with headquarters in New York, has declared that it will no longer accept payments from residents of Venezuela. The business, which, according to its own data, provides services to more than 184 countries, claims that the current political situation between Venezuela and the U.S. is to blame for this choice.
Uphold declared in an email issued to the exchange’s Venezuelan customers:
“We regret to inform you that Uphold has decided to leave Venezuela due to the growing difficulty of adhering to US sanctions. We like serving our customers in Venezuela because it was one of the first nations to accept Uphold. This is a really difficult decision for us to make.”
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The company did add that it intends to return to Venezuelan markets as soon as the conditions permit. The company has instructed Venezuelan users to withdraw their funds before July 31 using bank accounts linked to their Uphold accounts or via cryptocurrency transfers as the company is not allowing new users from Venezuela to register accounts. Additionally, the exchange will instantly terminate any accounts that have no balance.
The exchange has reportedly experienced challenges and operational issues when operating in Venezuela before. According to a group of Instagram users, several Venezuelan users have already reported losing access to their accounts and dealing with irrational requests for information regarding their platform transactions. Additionally, a few people claimed that their accounts had been terminated mysteriously.
Some users who followed Uphold’s instructions and attempted to withdraw their money are now complaining on social media platforms that their accounts are in a “normal revision” condition. Due to undisclosed details, it is unclear if this is a measure implemented to all Venezuelans on the site or just to certain.
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Due to sanctions, other services and wallets have also targeted Venezuelans. Due to a misconfiguration brought on by U.S. sanction directives in March, Infura, one of the organizations offering endpoint connections for Metamask, a well-known Web3 wallet, denied access to Venezuelan customers.
