When people talk about sanctions evasion, the act of circumventing government-imposed financial restrictions using digital assets. Also known as crypto circumvention, it’s not always about crime—sometimes it’s about survival. In countries like Nigeria, Venezuela, or Bangladesh, where banks freeze accounts or governments ban crypto outright, people don’t use crypto because it’s trendy. They use it because it’s the only way to send money to family, buy food, or keep a business running.
That’s where crypto VPN, a virtual private network used to access blocked exchanges and hide location from regulators. Also known as crypto proxy tools, it’s become a daily necessity for millions. You won’t find it in official policy papers, but you’ll see it in forum threads from Lagos to Pyongyang. People in Bangladesh use VPNs to reach Binance. Nigerians switch servers to bypass ISP blocks. Venezuelans trade through peer-to-peer platforms because their banks won’t touch crypto. These aren’t tech elites—they’re teachers, mechanics, nurses. And they’re not trying to outsmart the system for profit. They’re trying to survive it.
crypto exchange restrictions, rules imposed by governments that limit who can trade, which assets are allowed, or where funds can move. Also known as crypto access controls, these vary wildly. In Indonesia, you can trade crypto but can’t use it to pay for coffee. In Vietnam, you can’t trade in stablecoins, even though everyone uses them. In the UK, exchanges must register with the FCA or shut down. These aren’t theoretical policies—they’re real walls people climb over. That’s why platforms like Armoney or CreekEx pop up: they’re not always scams. Sometimes they’re the only bridge left.
And then there’s cryptocurrency compliance, the set of rules exchanges and wallets follow to avoid legal trouble, like KYC checks, geofencing, and transaction monitoring. Also known as crypto AML, it’s the flip side of sanctions evasion. Legit exchanges like COREDAX in Korea or HM Treasury-regulated platforms in the UK follow these rules strictly. But compliance isn’t just about law—it’s about control. When an exchange blocks a Nigerian user or freezes a Venezuelan wallet, it’s not just following policy. It’s enforcing a global power structure. And that’s why people turn to decentralized tools, private wallets, or token swaps like BinaryX’s move to FORM—because they want control back.
What you’ll find in the posts below isn’t a list of illegal hacks. It’s a map of real people doing real things under real pressure. You’ll see how a VPN helps a Bangladeshi trader access Binance. How a state-licensed mining pool in Venezuela traps miners in debt. How a token swap in March 2025 wiped out thousands who didn’t understand the upgrade. These aren’t edge cases. They’re the new normal in crypto.
18 April
OFAC sanctions have severely restricted Iranian access to global crypto exchanges by blocking wallet addresses and forcing platforms to comply. Iranians now rely on risky P2P trades and shadow exchanges, while regulators use blockchain analytics to track evasion.
25 November
Iran turned to cryptocurrency to survive international sanctions, using Bitcoin mining and state-controlled exchanges to bypass banking restrictions. But a $90M hack and global crackdowns exposed deep vulnerabilities in its strategy.
