REYKJAVIK, Iceland — After Iceland imposed capital controls during the global financial crisis, the move helped stabilize the country’s banking system, putting the economy on a path to recovery.

As Iceland now unwinds those controls nearly seven years later, the government is trying to prevent a mass exodus of money and keep the country from backsliding.

It is a pivotal moment for a country that came to symbolize the financial crisis, after its three main banks imploded in 2008. While some economists point to Iceland as a case study of how to manage tumult, its ability to successfully lift capital controls will test that strategy.

Capital controls have worked for Iceland, perhaps in part because of its size. A tiny island nation with just 320,000 people, it was crushed spectacularly in the crisis but also bounced back fast.