Magic Eden faces backlash over US service segregation

Magic Eden, a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, announced that it would launch a new United States exclusive domain for US users.

The Sept. 5 post said that while the new US domain would continue to offer familiar services, the international .io domain would be rolling out improved features and innovations.

This announcement sparked a considerable backlash from the crypto community, some of whom feel left out due to perceived limitations on their service access.

Cointelegraph contacted Magic Eden for comment but received no response before publication.

Related: Magic Eden dominates NFT trading volume, surpassing Blur and OpenSea: CoinGecko

US user concerns

Shortly after the announcement, the crypto community took to X to express their frustration at the change in domains and service segregation.

Concerns were raised about popular features of the NFT marketplace platform, such as the fact that airdrops wouldn’t be available to US residents.

One user responded that Magic Eden was about to “restrict everyone” in the US from using its service and making money due to the NFT platform being an alleged “centralized entity.”

Regulatory pressure and service changes

The core issue driving service segregation could be the recent growing regulatory pressure building within the US.

Magic Eden could be taking preventive measures in light of the recent Wells notice issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the NFT platform OpenSea.

Despite this, one community member asked that Magic Eden “give it to us straight,” asking the platform to “just say, US regulators are coming for us […] make ur decisions accordingly.”

Related: Magic Eden passed Blur as leading NFT marketplace in March: CoinGecko

Magic Eden Foundation token launch

On Aug. 22, the Magic Eden Foundation introduced the ME token to improve cross-chain trading and to drive NFT platform expansion and decentralized application (DApp) integration.

According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph, the ME Foundation’s mission was to help develop the ME decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) protocols.

The ME token was expected to be central to Magic Eden, which plans to be the first to officially adopt it to fuel its ecosystem.

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