Crypt0 Zan

Contribute towards legal efforts that will outline how to best navigate US sanctions against Iran to include Iranians in Web3. Iran is going through a critical time: the current mass movement and the violent response by the government in power makes the population increasingly vulnerable and in need of access to blockchain native tools. Who in crypto hasn't heard of, or been concerned about, sanctions violations? The aversion to this risk is so high, that instead of applying the law, the crypto space became a victim of overcompliance (all while remaining a grey legal area), resulting in the unfair discrimination of Iranian users. Popular Web3 platforms and services have poorly rejected and banned Iranian users citing US sanctions as a reason. In an effort to avoid this risk, the crypto space is now trending towards overcompliance to the extent of racism. This is unfortunate since Iranian users have always been a part of the crypto communities, experience ongoing internet shut-downs, and are geo-blocked from accessing basic crypto tools like digital non-custodial wallets. But excluding Iranians from tools that are in existence to exactly alleviate repression and censorship is counter productive to the mission of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and crypto in general. Yet, no formal legal guidelines exist regarding Iranians and their possible relationship to educational and web3 projects (for more information on this see: <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/21/borderless-crypto-networks-wrestle-with-state-sanction-compliance/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/21/borderless-crypto-networks-wrestle-with-state-sanction-compliance/</a>) Help us fund and draft guidelines with experts in the field of sanctions on the scope of economic sanctions against Iran and how best to navigate them within the crypto decentralized space. Let’s collectively understand the risks, the scope and the requirements for compliance to US economic sanctions against Iran in order to surgically address compliance needs instead of implementing unreasonable and discriminative blanket bans based on nationality, language, etc. Understanding the regulatory ever-evolving landscape is no easy task. The latest positive development in the field is the September 2022 US Treasury Issued a General License to Increase Support for Internet Freedom for Iranian users (<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0974" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0974</a>), which broadened up possibilities related to Iran but which was not studied nor implemented in Web3 to our understanding. We are seeking funding and all other forms of support to create clear guidelines on what tools and services are possible to offer to Iranians. We hope to cover the question of sanctions with regards to the following fields within Web3: <ul><li>educational content in Farsi</li><li>provision and usage of communication and collaboration tools</li><li>services offered at no-cost (no monetary transactions involved, “no-cost services”)</li><li>“Provides additional authorization for the services that support the communication tools to assist ordinary Iranians in resisting repressive internet censorship and surveillance tools deployed by the Iranian regime.”</li><li>decentralized services (such as; digital identity, DeFi, NFT, wallets, miners/validators, etc) </li></ul> We are looking for crypto lawyers, regulators and whomever else can assist us in creating rules that safeguard Iranian users from risk aversion discrimination. If you or someone you know is committed to making the vision of a decentralized and inclusive web a reality and want to support this cause, please get in touch with us in the comments here or email us at <a href="mailto:lets@disobey.monster" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lets@disobey.monster</a>. We will regularly update you on the project, and share a draft for iterations. The ‘Collective for Freedom and Decentralisation’ is a group of cypherpunk crypto OGs, partnered with ‘Women in Blockchain Farsi’, a group that successfully works on inclusivity and education in the space.

Stand up for Iranians Stand up for Web3 Inclusivity

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