A proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set off a new controversy in the country. He had spoken of using cryptocurrency as a fallback if international economic or banking sanctions were imposed on Israel.
But the country’s central bank, the Bank of Israel, has flatly rejected the idea. The bank said plainly that economic sanctions cannot be evaded with cryptocurrency in any way.
In an interview, Netanyahu had voiced concern that Israel could face economic sanctions in the future, and that US military and economic aid could stop once Donald Trump leaves the US presidency. He said a plan to use cryptocurrency was being drawn up to deal with that situation.
After his remarks, the central bank issued an urgent message saying the government should focus on preserving trade ties with world markets and friendly countries and on heading off sanctions, rather than chasing alternative currencies.
Opposition leaders have also sharply criticised Netanyahu’s comments. Opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Yoav Horowitz warned that building excuses for a fallback instead of trying to prevent sanctions is irresponsible. It could lead international investors to pull their money out of Israel, which would plunge the economy into a severe crisis, they said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report