Comment by csomar
1 day ago
Crypto is cut-off from the international financial system but can be bridged by P2P. DPRK could allow, for example, exchanges without KYC that accept US customers. There is "sky high" demand for such a product (as in trillions). Russia used to have eBTC and it was one of the highest volumed exchanges.
My guess is that despite the DPRK appearing to be independent (nuclear et al), it really is not. NK envisaged starting not just an exchange but a whole "deregulated/free" city but China prevented them from doing that.
They do have other free enterprises, for example see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rason_Special_Economic_Zone
How is this working?
A random US Citizen cannot wire USD to NK. Their bank is not going to allow it. Their credit card company is not going to allow it. If you try to mail physical USD the USPS is going to confiscate it [1].
So, this leaves a US Citizen buying crypto on a KYC exchange and then transferring it to the NK exchange. Why? Just keep the crypto on the KYC exchange at this point.
[1]: https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/il_015.htm#ep1639364
You cannot "wire" USD to the UK either. The money always remain in the US system, it is just that individuals from the UK "control" it. What happens when you have a P2P market is that individuals from the US will provide the transfer services on behalf of the Korean. It is much easier to enforce this with big and a few financial institution than a P2P situation. Especially when the premium to execute the transaction is high.