Cryptocurrency and economic sanctions

[Oshio-man]

There are some government that are not ready to regulate bitcoin,  if you are waiting for such thing from your government, it will not going to happen soon, there are some people in power that will not allow it to come to reality without something be exchange in their hands before they will be move because they will allow such thing to pass through government law in that country for people to have access to bitcoin in the country, making bitcoin legal tender in the country, it will increase their economy and also increase the numbers of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the country.

[slapper]

MiCA in Europe has quickly become the de facto compliance standard for the world. US had a different approach. Outrightly banned retail CBDC. In June 2026, the 21st Century ROAD Act went into effect, specifically prohibiting the Fed from issuing to the public until 2030. Pivoted instead to a stablecoin framework. ECB conducting digital euro pilots with 36 payment providers, aiming to launch them by 2029. China's digital yuan has a clear objective, which is to lessen the reliance on SWIFT. Each of the big powers is developing a different programmable money, with different rules and different political axes.

Anyway. The Iran case can be used as an example. Nobitex (Iran's largest domestic exchange) got sanctioned by US Treasury in June 2026. For years people knew what Nobitex was for, and it was running with a degree of openness. And the US finally designated it. Which is to say, there is a lag in enforcement between what happens and what it does. That lag is where all the actual damage occurs.

North Korea is a slightly different. It is not sanctions evasion via markets, it is sanctions evasion by hacking. The blockchain transparency argument people cite against crypto-based evasion does not really apply. You can simply take the coins and then mix them with sufficient mixing services and cross-chain bridges.

Sanctions are a tool of asymmetric power. And they work when the sanctioned party is sufficiently isolated from alternative networks. The crypto question is essentially a proxy for the question of whether those alternative economies are getting strong enough to incorporate sanctioned economies. And in 2026, the response is: For some actors, in some circumstances, yes. Not yet for others. Not an adequate solution, but most likely the correct one.

[tabas]

So my question is will digital currencies create a new financial system or will governments find new ways to regulate and control the system?

They are regulating it right now and as for if it's going to create new financial system. In the way of investing, I think that's where crypto is going to be categorized. Because each country that's allowing crypto for their citizens are only there to regulate it through taxation and combatting the scams. But they don't mind if it's making new financial system because it's still their fiat that shall be followed and used. Although it's getting close to the point that there's El Salvador that it has adopted bitcoin as a legal tender so, others might follow suit but they're still weighing it.

[iv4n]

So my question is will digital currencies create a new financial system or will governments find new ways to regulate and control the system?

I think the world needs a new financial system... the old one is simply broken. But governments will try to protect the current system... they want control, some people on top don't wish for any changes. Do we need a better system? If we want a better tomorrow for all the people in this world, we need a better system... Crypto is a good alternative to this current financial system, and if we use it in the right way (like all other tools) maybe we can make something good.

I guess there is a big fight we don't see... and who knows who will win. As always, time will tell... and we can gamble and try to predict it.

[r_victory]

We already have a new financial system, and yes, governments will try to find ways to curb sanctions evasion; however, I often say that there is a cryptocurrency for every situation or occasion; you just have to choose the one that best suits the purpose and move forward.

By the way, and using this as an example, I saw in another discussion that Tether blocked funds belonging to certain organizations; well, Tether is centralized, so I don't see how that could be applied to cryptocurrencies that aren't.

[Abiky]

I want to answer your first question.

Cryptocurrency has already creat d a new financial system already. Removing anything like middle man and you just sending and receiving crypto.

As of now any sanction on cryptocurrency is just waste of time. If it becomes stricter, people will move to self custody walker, decentralised exchanges or simple peer to peer transaction were those strict regulations have no effect on them.

And moreover those sanctions are on institutions and Bitcoin is a protocol. Way more harder to put strict regulations on it.

You can't sanction what you can't control. The US has only been able to sanction, freeze, and even confiscate BTC sitting in custodial wallets (like CEXs).

But non-custodial wallets? Never. Perhaps, Russia, China, and Iran are taking advantage of the situation. They'll ditch the USD and adopt decentralized cryptocurrencies. It may be already too late.