Cryptocurrencies and Rogue States: What’s at Stake?

So, it’s pretty well-known that a lot of countries with shady governments, like terrorists and totalitarian regimes, are using cryptocurrencies to do some pretty questionable stuff, including dodging sanctions that are totally justified. Right now, places like North Korea, Iran, Russia, and similar regimes are leveraging crypto to get around sanctions, launder or hide illegal assets, and pull off other criminal activities. It’s clear that this is gonna lead to tighter regulations on crypto transactions across exchanges and other platforms where crypto is traded. The aim here is to stop sanction evasion, fund terrorism, buy weapons for terrorist groups, and support illegal organizations. While those goals are understandable and necessary, the scale of these controls means they’re gonna affect us regular crypto users directly or indirectly. What do you all think? Are we in for more headaches down the line thanks to these new rules and the growing oversight of how we use cryptocurrencies?

If you are talking about bitcoin, then it is censorship resistant and nobody can control who should or shouldn't use it. As for other cryptocurrencies that are centralized, like stablecoins for example, the authorities have strong control over them and their issuers can even freeze it in any wallet it is stored. Though i get it that it will definitely not be the best choice to evade sanctions. I expect the authorities to seek new methods to regulate the industry, but i don't think there is much more they can do from what is already available. Just as i am against the crackdown on privacy softwares because there are illicit users, i also do not agree that the industry should "suffer" from further stringent regulations because the West believe that some countries use it to evade sanctions.

Let’s be honest it is not surprising seeing bitcoin or crypto been used mostly for money laundering and some of this bad things like that and I usually say to people that this is not about bitcoin but rather about the nature of person. Even if Dollars currency or any other currency has the advantage of it like the bitcoin own then they will still be laundering same currency again. For me I think as the market continues to grow regardless of the set back along the way, many investors are getting used to this pattern already and it won’t affect accumulation of bitcoin or things related to that.

Terrorism financing has been ongoing even way before Bitcoin inception. Cash is more anonymous than Bitcoin. It's inevitable that we will face stricter regulations as Bitcoin gets bigger So they can properly control citizens funds as it has always been. The funding of terrorist organization and criminal activity isn't the reason but a means to justify their action.

When we talk about decentralized finance like Bitcoin, the main feature is privacy freedom and accessibility, although it hard to get to own Bitcoin without some centralized involvement like exchange, but still there is limits to how much control their can have in you Bitcoin, and if you move the assets bought on the exchange to your own wallet, that further lesson their control over your Bitcoin asset also, so in the long run, Bitcoin give us that edge over control.

Strict countries might reason those out for them to get stricter with the compliance for the genuine businesses that are related to crypto like the casinos and exchanges. And that will also enforce more strict protocols that they might require for the users of these businesses. I think that it's unfair that they only look to Bitcoin or to the actuality of the crypto market if they're like that. Fiat, local cash transactions are even more rampant with those matters but for the other countries to control border transfers and don't want to receive funds from those negative sources, they'll have to do it and we're the ones that will be affected by that.

I think countries will keep a close eye on transactions to try to collect taxes from citizens and have greater control over money, because money is a way of enslaving people. But deep down, I think those who hold Bitcoin do not care much about that, transactions will continue to happen whether the state likes it or not.

That is true, fiat or crypto, if the country would want it to use it to something damageable to others, they will. The reason why the bad aspect is being highlighted to crypto is because people are magnifying its role in some illegal acts. Whereas, even before crypto was born, fiat was already part of this scheme. I can say, the government can be strict toward crypto-related businesses but whatever their protocol or regulation they implement on regular business should also be the same with crypto-related business. So it is only fair for both. The payment method may change but the rules governing is the same. And with that, it should not create bottlenecks for crypto-related businesses to grow.

Financing terrorism is not something new and it has been going on for ages far before bitcoin can even come into existence. Using it as an excuse to limit the use of this decentralized entity and to put sanctions and make it unbearable for users like us is just too absurd and unjust. But since we’re under a centralised government, we may have no choice than to obey the rules because only with that can we get to use cryptocurrency as we want. If bitcoin is legalised today and can be used for our daily transactions, many exchanges will become irrelevant because their purpose of converting this bitcoin into fiat for spending will be of no need, so we may not see them legalising it now but see more and more sanctions on its use to trace the money flow around it.

What makes a sanction reasonable when all nations in this world are supposed to have equal rights? The US, the EU, NATO or any other power are not the creators of this world. They are just a small part of the world and may one day become part of the calendar like many other dynasties in the thousands of years of human development. Who gave them the right to make their own rules and impose them on others, and anyone who does otherwise is considered illegal? The US has used USD to fund terrorism, corruption and there is no evil in the world for over 100 years under its dominance that does not involve USD. why don't you complain about it? Crypto has nothing to do with political conflicts, don't drag it in and blame it.

The definition of rogue country is relative. A country you see as law-abiding might be considered a rogue nation.  Let's see the definition of that concept called rogue nation. From this definition, you could see that many nations we consider as peaceful and decent could be seen as rogue nations because of their actions and inactions. Some of them have consistently broken international laws. This is why Bitcoin is important. It is decentralized and not controlled by any central authority. It doesn't segregate, it is impartial, and cannot be weaponized. Some nations are under severe sanctions because a group of nations controls the fiat financial system. But cryptocurrencies break such barriers. Sadly, the good nature of Bitcoin is now being misused by terrorist groups and other criminals to carry out their illegal activities. This always leads to strict regulations that will also affect genuine users of cryptocurrencies. As these threats increase, there will be an increase in KYC requirements and attacks on decentralized platforms.

The stereotype that crypto in the hands of "rogue nations" is harmful to cryptocurrency itself? I believe this is true in some respects, but it's not absolute. This action is clearly risky for the crypto ecosystem. The use of crypto by countries labeled as sponsors of crime brings regulatory tightening, delisting and blocking of services, asset blocking, which impacts liquidity, hinders user access, disrupts markets, and fragmentation. However, crypto's fundamentals are strong enough that use by rogue nations will not lead to collapse. Large blockchains are decentralized and censorship-resistant. The saying goes, "The thief is smarter than the police." Criminal complexity makes comprehensive detection and total elimination difficult. Decentralization and network redundancy — large blockchains (Bitcoin, Ethereum) are censorship-resistant; assets can still be moved even if they are fragmented. Criminal complexity makes complete elimination difficult. Service-providing institutions are also adapting to survive by developing mitigation tools to patch loopholes in criminal practices. Multipolarity and fragmentation of the global ecosystem are inevitable, but regional control remains evident. The use of crypto by rogue nations will accelerate the development of alternatives such as CBDCs, privacy technology, or peer-to-peer rails.

Nobody can circumvent sanctions using cryptocurrencies. Take Russia for instance. They are under US regime's sanctions, that means they cannot trade with the US and its slave countries. Even if they use a different means of payment like cryptocurrencies, they still won't be able to find anybody in the Western bloc to trade with. Conversely Russia is trading with the civilized world as part of the BRICS which is now more than 60% of the world and they don't need cryptocurrencies to do that. There are various means of payment in effect from the Russia's own SWIFT alternative and China's new digital Yuan all the way to various dual-trade agreements that help trade internationally. However, you have some good points here. We have seen in the past NATO regimes, specifically the US regime has used cryptocurrencies (specifically Tether) to fund various terrorist organizations around the world. Terrorist proxies they use to destabilize other nations. This is a risk that cryptos pose specially in the hands of corrupt regimes like the US. Eventually this is going to bring a lot more restrictions in the civilized world, and specifically in countries that are the victims of such terrorist groups funded by the US regime so that these dirty funds can be tracked and the terrorist cells that US has built can be found and dismantled. Luckily the US regime is still using transparent cryptos (not so much anon-coins) which makes finding the US backed terrorist cells easier.

Not just Bitcoin, but any asset that falls into the hands of criminals is at extreme risk of being devalued. Because every money spent by criminals is associated with the suffering and bloodshed of oppressed people. Criminals often use Bitcoin to carry out various terrorist activities. They feel safer using it because Bitcoin transactions can be made anonymously. In Bitcoin transactions, no one knows whether the Bitcoins are actually going to good people or terrorists, so there is some risk. In that case, those of us who transact Bitcoin locally have to be extremely careful. At least we have to make sure that Bitcoin does not reach any terrorist through our hands, although I do not think it will be very effective because there are many places to collect Bitcoin from where terrorists can easily receive Bitcoin.

Look, rogue states &  bad actors use cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, that is true. But the reality is that fiat has been used for far more crimes throughout history. The problem is that governments have used these examples as a basis for establishing excessive control &  surveillance over their people. This is where we get into trouble. Bitcoin wasnt really designed to be a government friendly system, it was designed to be a barrier to censorship I think there will definitely be tighter controls, especially on exchanges. But true decentralization always finds a way to circumvent these controls. yeah you somehow can control the entry points however you cant authority the blockchain, dude.

Before cryptocurrency, people have been involved with criminal activities, buying weapons or having arm deals with raw catch, people also have been financing terrorism long before crypto came on board, so Any of those restrictions from exchanges will not do any harm to those criminal elements, if exchange becomes strict with their policies, those criminals will just look for alternative...so it's not really about a crypto thing but an existential problem with the world.

Is there more the authorities will require in the exchange than the second submissions of our personal datas and the biometric and facial data captions? I bet not rather, the system operation with the platforms might change according to the policies where due Kyc processes has to be passed before successfully doing your each and everyone transactions to make sure active or current records of the user is captured to control those illegal monetary activities. With this policy could really bring users identify closer to the authorities.

We can only say that they are trying to control the facilitations of illegal financing because, nomatter the restrictions of users, those criminals will still find other means to navigate with their payments afterall bitcoin has just come while the banks had been operating for centuries now and yet, despites the fiats being fully regulated, those evil acts couldn't be prevented. So keeping tracks on users will even not solve the insurgence. As for the ordinary crypto users who're comfortable revealing their identity to the governments will have no panic based on clear conscience. It's also not a compulsory to use the regulating platforms to do transactions. It's a choice.

Well, if you don't understand, I'll explain it to you. The UN, NATO, and the EU are organizations and alliances that have agreed to live by certain rules, and these rules apply to all of their members. I hope that's clear. Furthermore, international criminal law has a clear definition of terrorism, and there are laws in countries and alliances that outlaw terrorism. That is why the fight against terrorism is ongoing. Attempts to manipulate the narrative that “the US sponsors terrorism” are to be expected. Let's discuss who gave terrorists the right to engage in terror, take away other people's lives, and destroy peaceful life. No one, except perhaps deranged religious fanatics who suddenly decided that some people have the right to destroy others. I hope I have answered your question and that you have fewer questions now. Evil and the dollar - it sounds great, especially against the backdrop of the fact that all “fighters against the Western world” for some reason value it and those very Western freedoms, but only for themselves, forcing their slaves to lead a miserable existence, while being embittered towards the developed world

Exactly... and crypto can expose all of them, but only if the majority choose transparency. Most people don't know how money is created, how it's distributed... or to make it even simpler, many people don't know where the money is coming from, and for sure they don't know where it's going. It's a bit funny, but about 10 years ago, we used to read stories about how cryptocurrencies were used by terrorists, drug traffickers, and all other "underground" dealers. And now some governments are using them for the same purpose? Well, I guess we can agree that crypto made a lot of progress... when you evolve from "street" to "international & government involved" business, there is something in it.