Many governments in the world have banned bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by law.
What is the legal status of cryptocurrencies? So far, there are no international agreements on bitcoin and other crypto assets.
So, each country has its own regulation – though most of the time there actually is not crypto regulation at all.
The Law Library of the U.S. Congress regularly updates a Report on “Regulation of cryptocurrency around the World”. It lists countries that explicitly or implicity ban cryptocurrencies.
What countries have banned bitcoin?
According to the last update, dated November 2021, there are nine countries that explicitly ban cryptocurrencies: Algeria, China, Iraq, Oman, Morocco, Qatar, Egypt, Nepal and Tunisia.
The ban on cryptocurrency can be implicit
There are 42 more countries that have some implicit ban of cryptos. An implicit ban may mean different things.
For example, banks and other financial institutions may be prohibited from offering crypto-related services to their customers, or from dealing in them.
Another example of implicit ban can be found in those countries that do not allow crypto exchanges to operate in their jurisdiction.
These countries have an implicit ban on cryptocurrency:
Saudi Arabia
Bahreain
Bangladesh
Benin
Bolivia
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Chad
Congo
Ivory Coast
UAE
Equador
Gabon
Georgia
Jordany
Guyana
Indonesia
Kazakhistan
Kuwait
Lesotho
Lebanon
Lybia
Macao
Maldives
Mali
Moldova
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Palay
Central African Republic
Democratic Republic of Congo
Senegal
Takìjikistan
Tanzania
Togo
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Vietnam
Zimbabwe.
Where crypto is regulated
103 more countries have issued some kind of crypto regulation. The majority of them pply both AML/KYC and Tax laws to crypto assets. The list includes all members of the European Union, with the exception of Bulgaria.
