Sanctions Impact Crypto Adoption

by Marvin Dumont

Nation-states operate differently, and feature unique business environments. Those that threaten Western democracies face economic sanctions that target crucial sectors such as banking and oil.

Sanctions and government restrictions significantly affect local adoption (or non-adoption) of cryptocurrencies.

In countries like China, India, Venezuela, and Iran (to name a few), crypto innovation has been stunted due to regulations that ban or limit the use or trading of Bitcoin and other digital coins.

These restrictive jurisdictions make anonymous, privacy currencies all the more valuable. Apollo (APL), Monero, Dash and other unregulatable currencies give locals a monetary escape hatch: an alternative to sovereign fiat that may be significantly mismanaged, devalued and/or diluted by a central bank.

(The story continues below.)

LocalBitcoins, a Finland-based peer-to-peer exchange, recently banned Iranians from its service. This action was likely due to U.S. sanctions against Iran.

The Venezuelan government is trading and exchanging cryptos to circumvent U.S. sanctions against its banking, oil, and gold mining sectors. But Maduro’s regime is also severely limiting Venezuelans’ ability to use and trade cryptos.

Overreaching governments distort the free market with ill-advised and corrupt policies (that benefit insiders and cronies). These have far-reaching, unintended consequences on an economy, including crypto adoption.

Venezuelans would otherwise benefit from widespread crypto use including the printing of decentralized paper-notes that are fully backed by digital funds. Paper notes can be helpful in areas that lack internet access.

Venezuelans find themselves in a dire situation: The bolivar has become worthless, and locals aren’t adopting Maduro’s petro crypto. Digital funds can help to restore lost economic activity and productivity by giving people and businesses a reliable medium of exchange.

Bureaucrats and politicians often try to solve problems with methods that continue to destroy their state. That’s centralization for you.

Apollo (APL) all-in-one privacy currency combines features of mainstream cryptocurrencies in a truly private and unregulatable platform. With two-second block speed, APL is one of the fastest cryptos on Earth. The privacy platform lets “Apollonauts” transact and send data anonymously via Encrypted Messaging, Private Ledger, Decentralized Exchange, IP Masking 2.0 and Coin Mixing. Learn more at www.apollocurrency.com