Netanyahu wants to dodge sanctions with crypto, Bank of Israel says no

Coin Encyclopedia Improve your knowledge of cryptos

The Bank of Israel reframed the Prime Minister the next day. She has no power to block this project, and Netanyahu has already made it known that he will do what he sees fit. The model he invokes is above all that of Russia and Iran, which circumvent their sanctions with stablecoins.

All current Gate EU bonuses in one place, cumulative with the Rewards Hub (10,000+ USDC) Take advantage of Gate EU bonuses Commercial link

It all starts from an interview given on Friday October 23 to Channel 10, the Israeli economic channel. Netanyahu warns that Israel could face banking sanctions.

Asked about crypto and blockchain, he confirms that these avenues are among the options. He also claims to have asked his advisors to prepare a plan.

The United Kingdom and eleven other Western countries recently announced sanctions targeting products from West Bank settlements. Israeli economists fear that the shock wave will go far beyond the settlements.

No one seems to have seen this plan. According to the daily Ynet, the economic ministries knew nothing about such an initiative. Executives in the Prime Minister's office did not know any team responsible for the file.

Saturday October 24, the central bank published a press release of rare frankness. “Cryptocurrencies cannot serve as a way to circumvent sanctions,” writes the institution, cited by The Times of Israel.

The right strategy, according to her, is to preserve ties with the country's main trading partners. We must prevent sanctions rather than trying to avoid them. The file “falls under the responsibility of the political level”, concludes the text.

Formal refusal? No. The central bank has no right of veto over this type of choice.

Netanyahu understood this well. “I hear the objections and I take them into account. I thank the Bank of Israel for its advice. I listen, but I do what I think is right,” he replied the same evening on Channel 14.

The economic world is not any kinder. More than a hundred economists, business leaders and former senior officials gathered in the Forum of Economists consider the proposal “confusing”. According to The Jewish Chronicle, they see it as a “bizarre solution” that will be “of no help.”

The problem is first of all technical. A Bitcoin or Ethereum transaction remains recorded forever in a public register, viewable by anyone.

On-chain analysis companies like Chainalysis spend their days linking these addresses to real entities. Tether, the issuer of USDT, regularly freezes addresses targeted by American sanctions.

Machine-translated from French