Will North Korea introduce bitcoin as a settlement unit in their int'l trade?

[becoin]

No-one is going to be interested in North Korea using Bitcoin to settle trade, not least the North Koreans, not least because Western/external computer operating systems are banned in any case

wut?!
Bitcoin clients can work only on Western/external computer operating systems?

[Daniel91]

Following latest round of sanctions even their biggest banks are now not able to transact internationally. North Korea is the only truly independent county. It is also independent from international banking oligopoly. They have nothing to lose. Introducing bitcoin as a settlement unit in their international economic relations is an exceptional opportunity for this country!

I think that you don't understand much about North Korea.
I was several times in South Korea and know situation first hand.
North Korea is not last independent county, it's cruel dictatorship regime.
People are brainwashed and starving.
Only selected a few people have right to use Internet.
Most people don't have even computers.
There is no way that they will use for currency something they can't control.
Even if they use, only 110-20 people will be able to buy or sell bitcoin
No way!

[Carlton Banks]

No-one is going to be interested in North Korea using Bitcoin to settle trade, not least the North Koreans, not least because Western/external computer operating systems are banned in any case

wut?!
Bitcoin clients can work only on Western/external computer operating systems?

Is that your way of volunteering to port the Bitcoin source code to the North Korean state sanctioned OS? Didn't think so

[becoin]

Following latest round of sanctions even their biggest banks are now not able to transact internationally. North Korea is the only truly independent county. It is also independent from international banking oligopoly. They have nothing to lose. Introducing bitcoin as a settlement unit in their international economic relations is an exceptional opportunity for this country!

I think that you don't understand much about North Korea.
I was several times in South Korea and know situation first hand.
North Korea is not last independent county, it's cruel dictatorship regime.
People are brainwashed and starving.
Only selected a few people have right to use Internet.
Most people don't have even computers.
There is no way that they will use for currency something they can't control.
Even if they use, only 110-20 people will be able to buy or sell bitcoin
No way!

Why don't you guys read initial post carefully? Nowhere I'm suggesting mass adoption of bitcoin in North Korea! I'm just suggesting that if North Korean government can't use their banks to receive payments for the exports of government controlled enterprises, they can simply use bitcoin instead of US$ as remittance currency!

As far as the "cruel dictatorship" goes, I think there are US allies that are much more cruel dictatorships. For instance, Saudi Arabia. In 2015 more people were beheaded in SA than on the Islamic State held territories in Iraq and Syria. So, please don't use this propaganda cliché. Nobody will be impressed.

[becoin]

No-one is going to be interested in North Korea using Bitcoin to settle trade, not least the North Koreans, not least because Western/external computer operating systems are banned in any case

wut?!
Bitcoin clients can work only on Western/external computer operating systems?

Is that your way of volunteering to port the Bitcoin source code to the North Korean state sanctioned OS? Didn't think so

You've obviously missed the latest leak by Wikileaks? Otherwise you should have been aware that what you use is a CIA sanctioned OS! Why do you think North Korean government is far behind the leading democracy in that respect? lol

[danherbias07]

The other guy visited North Korea cause he knows there is no internet there.  Nice tour. 

This is one hard thought thread. I got a lot of questions when it comes to this country.
How do exports and imports work? Banks in North Korea transacting outside their country? Is that permitted? Are there even banks left in that country?
I am sure they have internet there but the access may be limited.
I dont think they are doing exports? Wait, are they? I thought they where just relying with their fields.
That is how hard it is to not have a clue about a country.

[Carlton Banks]

You've obviously missed the latest leak by Wikileaks? Otherwise you should have been aware that what you use is a CIA sanctioned OS! Why do you think North Korean government is far behind the leading democracy in that respect? lol

You have zero clue which OS I use. You have zero clue about the real purpose of Wikileaks, they're not your friends you total idiot

[becoin]

they're not your friends you total idiot

Ah, there we go. Ultimate argument used.
You sound like an anti-Trump activist?

[cryp24x]

cmon man... do you really think the country's dictator will allow anyone to use Bitcoin?
of course not... it would be something like using dollars as well!

Indeed, Bitcoin is completely opposite of what North Korea government wanted.  NK government want full control while Bitcoin moving the opposite Direction.  Aside from that I cannot see the benefit of the NK government if ever they adopt Bitcoin in accordance to the current control they have.  OP seems to disregard NK political stands towards stuff.

[Mometaskers]

Following latest round of sanctions even their biggest banks are now not able to transact internationally. North Korea is the only truly independent county. It is also independent from international banking oligopoly. They have nothing to lose. Introducing bitcoin as a settlement unit in their international economic relations is an exceptional opportunity for this country!

This is not related to the topic but I almost smashed my laptop's monitor when I saw that bug moving around!

I'm not sure how the existing government would react to bitcoin. It's the very example of a planned economy (though it seem to be doing nothing for their poor). Granted there's not much we know about their financial system. As for the actual use of bitcoin, don't they strictly regulate internet? From what I've read they even have their own OS. If the citizens do manage to use it, it'll probably be mostly for trading with the Chinese across the border. I don't see them buying stuff online from abroad anytime soon.

Not very sure about the regulations but wouldn't buying and selling with them using bitcoins still subject to sanctions since it's still essentially trading? Well anyway, they can still probably maintain economic ties with some other countries in Asia. They'll probably find a work-around.

Looked up the list of sanctions but got lazy and ended up not reading them. http://www.sanctionswiki.org/North_Korea#UN

[becoin]

Granted there's not much we know about their financial system.

Their financial system will remain as it is. Ordinary people will continue to use their domestic currency.

NK government use US$ to trade with outside world. If their banks are cut off as a result of the latest sanctions why not use bitcoin instead?

Iraq used eur for their oil export. Libya used gold to stash the revenue from their oil export. They got "democratized' and now they use the correct money. Even Iran agreed to use US$ for their oil exports. But North Korea can not be bullied by US because they have nuclear weapons. They have nothing to lose.

[ice098]

Following latest round of sanctions even their biggest banks are now not able to transact internationally. North Korea is the only truly independent county. It is also independent from international banking oligopoly. They have nothing to lose. Introducing bitcoin as a settlement unit in their international economic relations is an exceptional opportunity for this country!

i dont think so, we all know that north korea is the most mysterious country on earth , patriotism is very important to them therefore i think , they would not know about this because their country is very strict

[Rockie1234]

This seems almost impossible. I remember some figure which said that in North Korea, there are only a few hundred Internet users. These are almost certainly all government officials, since many communication methods are simply banned in that country. Not to mention that Bitcoin would only serve as aid for dissidents due to its pseudo-anonymous nature.