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Two of the largest and most structurally important Solana DeFi protocol frontends have geofenced UK users.<\/p>\n
The developments come amid continued uncertainty regarding the regulatory requirements of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the country\u2019s finance markets regulator.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Frontends are web portals commonly used to interact with DeFi protocols, and are often maintained by the protocol development teams. In recent months, frontends have become a focal point for crypto regulation \u2014\u00a0and the geofencing moves highlight how they may act as a point of centralization for the industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reports emerged on Monday that Solana<\/a> liquid staking provider Marinade Finance and Solana-based DEX Orca Finance had both geoblocked UK users. The blocks were first reported by CoinDesk.\u00a0<\/p>\n Using a VPN, Blockworks attempted to access Marinade Finance from a UK IP address, and was met with a message saying \u201cAccess to this site is unavailable in the United Kingdom due to compliance concerns relating to rules and regulations promulgated by the UK Finance Conduct Authority.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The text went on to note that users could still \u201cwithdraw liquidity, claim delayed tickets or delay unstake\u201d using the protocols SDK.\u00a0<\/p>\n When attempting to access Orca Finance\u2019s site, Blockworks encountered an identical message.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to data from DeFiLlama, Solana accounts for $1.2 billion in total value locked (TVL). Marinade Finance, Solana\u2019s largest liquid staking project, has $243 million in TVL, while Orca, the chain\u2019s largest DEX, has $48.5 million in TVL.\u00a0<\/p>\n Binance UK announced last week that it would stop accepting new customers<\/a>, citing FCA warnings issued to a partner firm. Additionally, earlier in October the FCA issued warnings to 146 unregistered crypto firms regarding new promotional and advertising rules<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The FCA said in February that roughly 15% of applicant firms are successful<\/a> in registering.\u00a0<\/p>\n Orca and Marinade are not the only protocols to geofence specific user populations in recent months.\u00a0<\/p>\n Celestia announced in September that Americans would be banned from claiming the project\u2019s TIA token, and dapps<\/a> such as 1inch have geofenced American users since as far back as 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss the next big story \u2013 join our\u00a0free daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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