Netanyahu Orders Blockchain Plan to Prepare for Possible Banking Sanctions
Published October 24, 2026, 01:15 AM PKT. Based on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Channel 10 interview of October 23, 2026 (primary source, as reported by i24NEWS, The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel), and reporting by CryptoBriefing, Bitcoin.com, LaPresse, CoinOTAG, Bitcomme and CryptoTimes on October 23, 2026 (secondary sources).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on October 23, 2026 that he has already asked for a plan to use blockchain technology as part of preparations for possible banking sanctions, according to reports of his interview with Israel's Channel 10. Netanyahu said Israel must prepare an alternative economic system that could keep financial activity running if its banks face restrictions, and when asked directly whether blockchain could provide an alternative to conventional financial channels, he answered, according to CryptoBriefing, "One of them, certainly. And I have already asked for a plan to be prepared for that." The reports agree on what the statement is not: Netanyahu did not name any blockchain network, cryptocurrency, government agency or date for implementation, and no program, currency or payment rail has been announced. What exists, on the reporting so far, is a request for a contingency plan, not a launched alternative financial system.
The interview: a plan request, not a launched system
Netanyahu framed the move as preparation for a scenario he said Israel can no longer dismiss. "Of course I am concerned," he said when asked about the possibility of economic sanctions, according to CryptoBriefing's account of the interview. "You have to understand that there could be banking sanctions," he added, pointing to alternative currencies and financial systems that could operate outside traditional banking channels. LaPresse, reporting the same interview on October 23, quoted him in similar terms: banking sanctions would mean Israel needs "to organise an alternative economy capable of circumventing them," and blockchain is "one of" the options under consideration. CoinOTAG's account stresses the same limit: the directive remains a policy outline rather than a confirmed program, with no named overseeing body, network, asset or go-live date. That distinction matters for readers, because a plan request can be studied, shelved or reshaped, while a launched system would carry named institutions, rules and counterparties, none of which appear in any of the October 23 reports.
The trigger: UK settlement sanctions and the US aid question
The interview's context, as reported, was mounting international economic pressure. CryptoTimes, citing The Times of Israel's report of the interview, said the sanctions question referred to broad UK sanctions on settlements announced the previous month. LaPresse also tied the remarks to extensive British sanctions against settlements announced last month, and to Netanyahu's warning that tens of billions of dollars in US aid earmarked for the defence budget might no longer be forthcoming. "Get used to the idea: America has changed. Not because Israel has changed. It is over, and it really will be over: it is just a matter of time," LaPresse quoted Netanyahu as saying about future US military aid. He has previously said Israel should gradually reduce its dependence on US military aid until it is eliminated entirely, LaPresse reported. Bitcomme added a domestic detail from the same interview: Netanyahu rejected warnings by Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron about the expansion of the defence budget and the burden of defence spending on the Israeli economy, saying, "I disagree with him. Unequivocally, I disagree with him." None of the reports says Israeli banks are currently under sanctions; the contingency is explicitly about a future possibility.
Why blockchain fits the contingency, and where it falls short
The structural appeal is straightforward, and the limits are equally clear in the reporting. A distributed ledger lets value move across a network of nodes and settle through a consensus mechanism instead of correspondent banks, CoinOTAG noted, so no single foreign authority can switch the payment rail off. Bitcoin.com made the same point and immediately qualified it: blockchain could facilitate cross-border transactions outside traditional banking channels, but transparency, regulatory restrictions and liquidity constraints could limit its effectiveness in circumventing sanctions. CryptoBriefing added that blockchain networks can facilitate transactions outside traditional banking infrastructure, although their use does not automatically eliminate sanctions compliance requirements or restrictions imposed on financial institutions. Nir Hirschman, chief executive of the Crypto Companies Forum, made the transparency point directly on October 23, according to Bitcomme: he welcomed any development into crypto and blockchain technologies, but warned that it was not a means to hide money transactions, because public blockchain networks allow for transparency and tracking of transactions. In other words, a blockchain rail could in theory keep payments moving if banks were cut off, but the payments themselves would in many designs be more visible, not less, and would still need exchanges, liquidity and counterparties willing to accept them.
What is still unknown: networks, coins, agencies and dates
Four blanks define the story so far, and every outlet reporting it lists them. First, networks: no report names a public chain, a permissioned ledger or a central bank digital currency design. Second, coins: Netanyahu referred to "currencies that allow us to circumvent these restrictions," according to LaPresse, but named no currency, stablecoin or token. Third, agencies: no ministry, central bank unit or regulator has been named as owner of the plan. Fourth, dates: no deadline for the plan, no pilot and no launch window has been given. CryptoBriefing, Bitcoin.com and CoinOTAG all state these gaps explicitly, which is why this article does not fill them. Until an Israeli government body publishes a plan, a draft law or a procurement notice, the verifiable facts are the interview, the request for a plan and the context Netanyahu himself gave for it. Any claim that Israel has chosen a chain, issued a coin or built a sanctions-proof payment system would go beyond the October 23 reporting.
The wider signal: a head of government names crypto as a fallback
Even as a contingency, the statement is notable because it comes from a sitting head of government rather than a ministry paper or an industry proposal. Governments usually discuss sanctions resilience in terms of reserves, trade settlement in other currencies or alternative banking partnerships; naming blockchain and cryptocurrencies as one of the options puts a crypto rail inside a national economic contingency discussion, and that is the part of the interview that travelled fastest across crypto outlets on October 23. The signal cuts both ways for the crypto industry. On one side, it treats blockchain as serious financial infrastructure, capable in principle of carrying payments when conventional rails fail. On the other side, it ties that infrastructure in public to sanctions avoidance, which is exactly the association regulators in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have spent years policing, and which industry groups such as the Crypto Companies Forum were quick to qualify on transparency grounds. Readers should therefore treat the October 23 remarks as a political signal and a planning instruction, and judge any future development by the documents that follow: a named owner, a named design and a dated next step.
This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.
Sources
- Benjamin Netanyahu, interview with Israel's Channel 10 (October 23, 2026), primary source, as reported by i24NEWS, The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel
- CryptoBriefing, Netanyahu Seeks Blockchain Plan to Counter Potential Financial Sanctions (October 23, 2026), secondary source
- Bitcoin.com, Netanyahu Orders Blockchain Plan to Help Israel Evade Potential Sanctions (October 23, 2026), secondary source
- LaPresse, Middle East, Netanyahu: Israel Must Prepare for an Alternative Economy to Counter Sanctions (October 23, 2026), secondary source
- CoinOTAG, Netanyahu Orders Blockchain Plan Against Banking Sanctions (October 23, 2026), secondary source
- Bitcomme, Benjamin Netanyahu Warns of Banking Sanctions, Plans Alternatives (October 23, 2026), secondary source
- CryptoTimes, Netanyahu Says Israel Is Exploring Blockchain to Bypass Potential Sanctions (October 23, 2026), secondary source
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