>Buying dollars outside the pittance allowed by the government is illegal
Authoritarian governments stealing your foreign currency out of your bank accounts are orthogonal issues to USD being a good anti-inflation currency.
Growing up in post-Communist Eastern Europe, everyone was using USD but the banks or governments wasn't touching them. People exchanged USD on the black/gray market and storing them at home in safes or various hidden ways. No government and no banks. It worked quite well while it lasted.
Then the Euro came and our own currency got pegged to that so it's less common today except for expensive items like fancy cars or real estate.
Authoritarian governments stealing your foreign currency out of your bank accounts are orthogonal issues to USD being a good anti-inflation currency.
Growing up in post-Communist Eastern Europe, everyone was using USD but the banks or governments wasn't touching them. People exchanged USD on the black/gray market and storing them at home in safes or various hidden ways. No government and no banks. It worked quite well while it lasted.
Then the Euro came and our own currency got pegged to that so it's less common today except for expensive items like fancy cars or real estate.