States Using Crypto to Circumvent Sanctions

The implementation of sanctions on various countries continues to be a controversial topic of discussion. By definition, sanctions represent economic restrictions that usually act upon any geopolitical crisis. Countries can block trading activities, travel, or even freeze valuable assets during this exercise. Such actions have massive impacts on a country’s growth. A study from the National Iranian American Council shows that the U.S lost export revenue worth more than $170B. The amount was export profit that it would generate between 1995-and 2012 through Iran. The US-Iran sanction made thousands of people lose their job positions aside from the financial losses. Such economic restraints push countries and their respective authorities into the digital asset world. Below are countries that are using cryptocurrencies to go around financial sanctions. Iran Iran’s involvement with crypto became apparent after the U.S enforced an economic hindrance on all imports and several financial bodies from Iran. As a result, the country saw a 70% drop in oil exports for almost a decade. These sanctions encouraged significant recessions coupled with civil unrest and unemployment. Due to this reason, Iran sought to leverage Bitcoin mining to generate money. Mining, in the digital asset world, represents an exercise where miners take part in validating transactions in the blockchain. However, the process requires adequate energy and computatio...