We are writing to express our concern regarding the recent decision to ban users from Iran, China, and other countries due to sanctions. While we understand the complexities of navigating international regulations, we believe this decision contradicts the core principles of the blockchain space.
Our concerns are based on the following points:
Decentralization and Neutrality: Blockchain technology is built upon the principles of decentralization and neutrality. It aims to create a borderless and permissionless ecosystem, accessible to all regardless of geographical location. This ban undermines these core values and creates an unnecessary barrier for individuals in specific countries.
Violation of the Borderless Goal: The blockchain community strives for a future where borders are irrelevant and individuals have equal access to financial services and innovative technology. This ban contradicts this goal and creates an environment of exclusion.
Global Reach and Customer Inclusion: As a company, it is crucial for us to connect with customers worldwide, including those in Iran, China, Korea, and other potentially affected countries. Limiting access for these individuals hinders our ability to serve them and leverage the full potential of the Web3Auth.io platform.
We urge you to reconsider this decision and explore alternative solutions that comply with regulations without compromising the core values of the blockchain space. We believe in the power of collaboration and open dialogue and are confident that we can find a path forward that benefits all users, regardless of their origin.
Thanks for raising this issue. As per my knowledge, we have not banned any user from using our platform. We take the principles of blockchain, including decentralization, neutrality, and non-custodiality, very seriously, as they are essential to our product and the wider blockchain ecosystem. If there has been any misunderstanding or if you have encountered specific instances that led you to this conclusion, please share more details with us. We are committed to ensuring that our platform remains accessible to everyone, regardless of their geographical location, in line with the core values of blockchain technology. Let us know what we can do to help address your concerns or provide further clarification.
Thank you for your prompt response and clarification regarding user bans based on geographical location. We appreciate you confirming this policy.
However, we encountered an issue while attempting to access your service at [link to the specific page you tried to access on auth.web3auth.io/v6/]. We received an error message stating “Something went wrong. Could not get result from torus nodes. Unable to resolve enough promises.”
This experience led us to believe there might be limitations on service availability in certain regions. We’d be grateful if you could clarify the potential reasons behind the error message and if there are any known geographical restrictions on using your platform.
We remain strong supporters of Web3Auth.io’s commitment to the core principles of blockchain technology, particularly user accessibility. We believe open communication is key to ensuring a truly inclusive platform.
Thank you again for your time and clarification. We look forward to your response.
I wanted to inform you that the issue you experienced was linked to a database error on our end, which has now been resolved. If you are still encountering any difficulties, could you please share your logs with us? This will enable us to investigate further and ensure that everything is functioning as intended on your side.
I wanted to follow up regarding the logs I shared with you for further investigation into the database error. Have you had an opportunity to review them?
Thank you for your assistance.
I hope you’re doing well. Could you let me know if this problem occurs consistently or if it’s more of a sporadic issue? Additionally, knowing how frequently it happens for you would be really useful in diagnosing the problem.
It would also be great if you could share the country from which you’re attempting to log in.
I’m looking forward to assisting you further and getting to the bottom of this.
We investigated internally and could not figure out the exact problem that is happening for you. Ideally, it would be very much appreciated if you could use a tool like https://jam.dev/ which can help us get the exact scenario of what is happening while you’re getting this error. Basically this tool takes a screen recording and gets the network & console logs to help us track the error properly.
Hi @yashovardhan .
I hope this message finds you well.
Thank you for your guidance on resolving the database error issue. I’ve recorded the scenario using the jam.dev tool as per your suggestion. You can access the recording through the following link: Jam.dev Recording.
I truly appreciate your efforts in assisting us with this matter. Please let me know if there is any additional information or assistance I can provide to further pinpoint the issue.
Thanks for your patience. Our infra team looking into your Jam.dev recording. Unfortunately, as we investigated, a few of our nodes hosted in the Iran region are being blocked by GCP’s policy. You can see a similar thread around this here
We are in talks with the GCP team to resolve this. However, it might take some time since it is particular to their content policy and we’re unsure about it. In the meantime we’d recommend you to use a VPN service for logging in.
Hi @yashovardhan ,
Thank you for your thorough investigation and for keeping us updated on the progress. Your efforts are truly appreciated.
I understand the suggestion to use a VPN service for logging in, but from a business perspective, especially in industries like ours, instructing users to turn on a VPN might pose challenges. For instance, in a marketplace scenario, such as an NFT platform, it could significantly impact user experience and adoption.
Regarding the timeframe for resolving the issue with GCP’s policy, could you provide an estimate of how long it might take? Is there hope for a swift resolution, or should we anticipate a prolonged process?
Additionally, I’d like to address a discrepancy in the list of platforms and services you mentioned as being restricted in Iran. I can confirm that platforms like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook, Google Maps, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, GitHub, and Google Docs are accessible in Iran without restrictions. If needed, I can share the Jam.dev recording to demonstrate this.
It’s worth noting that previous platform restrictions in Iran have been lifted through negotiations, indicating that resolutions are feasible.
Once again, I extend my gratitude for your ongoing effort and follow-up in addressing this issue.
