Afghanistan’s Taliban have started trading crypto despite placing a nationwide ban on the assets. The group, known for their heavy-handedness in interpreting Islamic laws has been trading meme coins, including Shiba Inu, and Dogecoin. The group labeled the asset as haram post-2021 after seizing the government. However, it seems they have been dabbling in it, with all indications pointing to gains.
Afghanistan’s economy has been in disarray since the Taliban took over after the democratically elected government collapsed in August 2021. With the country suffering from sanctions globally amid $7 billion in central bank reserves frozen, the Taliban has faced multiple issues since taking over. Banks are barely functioning, liquidity became an issue and Afghans turned to crypto. However, the Taliban issued an outright ban on the assets in 2024.
Afghanistan’s Taliban brag about their crypto holdings
In a recent documentary, a Taliban member was seen bragging about his crypto holdings. He mentioned that he had made profits from trading Shiba Inu, but he also lost it all through his trading strategy. He said he bought at a high price and expected it to increase but he had to sell when it was getting low. Another also talked about his Dogecoin trades.
According to the group’s social media page Talibros, the group’s contradictions in regulations are glaring. While it prohibits its citizens from trading the asset, its members are secretly trading the asset. Their regulation has raised eyebrows, with users questioning the gap between their rules and what they do.
Afghanistan was 20th in Chainalysis’ crypto adoption index in 2021, with the asset providing a pathway for citizens to cope during the economic collapse. In 2024, the country dropped in the rankings, with the Taliban destroying every local crypto innovation and adoption that the country has sustained since then, arresting traders and shutting down exchanges.
Crypto crackdown puts Afghanistan’s finances in a tough spot
When the Taliban took over, they allowed crypto because it helped to evade restrictions and sanctions from the West. Families used crypto to get by, receiving tokens from abroad through HesabPay, one of the biggest entities in the country. Things stopped immediately after the Taliban decided trading crypto was out of Islamic rules, a claim that has not been proved.
In the first six months of 2024, the Taliban shut down about 16 exchanges in the province, arresting users and operators. Aside from confiscating funds, they labeled traders criminals and insisted that trading crypto was forbidden. Officials said crypto helped to promote scams and gambling, acts that hurt people in the country. Although the Taliban claimed it was haram, people have argued that the motive was to ensure total control over the people.
The situation has been brutal for citizens of the country, and all signs point to more economic downturn next year. The Taliban are now getting close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The group asked him to invite them to the BRICS summit, but he did not invite them. Now they have been working together to fight terrorism, a move that has made Putin remove the group from the list of terrorists in his country.
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