The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, requested a plan to circumvent banking sanctions using cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Economists and entrepreneurs called the proposal “bizarre” and said it offered “no help whatsoever”, according to the same outlet. In an interview on Saturday, Netanyahu said cryptocurrency was one of several possible options and that he would take the central bank’s objections into account, the Middle East Eye reported. In September, sanctions imposed by the UK and 11 other countries focused on the trade of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.