Regimes dodge sanctions with cryptocurrencies

“States like Russia, North Korea and Iran have reliable internet access and skilled hackers. The 2017 Wannacry hackers [who sent out a virus threatening to destroy victims’ data] got their ransom in cryptocurrency. If a country is mining cryptocurrency it can stockpile it — it’s volatile but it will keep at least some of its value,” said Kayla Izenman, an analyst specialising in cryptocurrencies and security threats at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank.

“I’d like to think that governments are taking this seriously. But it’s hard to take this to the policy makers when their reaction is ‘what is cryptocurrency?’ There is no cohesive mindset, not even regionally. And that is so dumb because cryptocurrencies are inherently borderless.”