Israel Eyes Blockchain as a Sanctions Escape Hatch

In an October 23 interview with Channel 10’s Roi Katz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel must organize a bypass economy in response to possible economic and banking sanctions, identified blockchain as one alternative, and said he had requested a plan. No specific token, network, operator or timeline was identified. Separately, on October 19, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain had new powers to sanction people and companies involved in building settlements such as E1, and planned legislation banning settlement goods and action on services that finance or facilitate them. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control says sanctions obligations apply equally to digital-currency and traditional payments.