A few days ago, Russia announced that mining is legal, and now there is one less country cracking down on Bitcoin.
Someone made a picture showing attitudes towards Bitcoin around the world:
The various colors in the above picture represent the legal status of Bitcoin in the region:
This picture is actually a bit outdated. Russia should be considered yellow now.
From the map, the main red banned countries are:
China, North Korea, Afghanistan, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, etc.
There is no ban in any country in Europe or America, and the countries that have issued bans are mainly in Asia and Africa.
Everyone should be more clear about the situation in China. Let’s talk about why Bitcoin is banned in other countries.
Originally, Bitcoin was legal in Afghanistan, but after the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, because some Afghans began to use cryptocurrencies to save funds and transfer funds abroad, the Central Bank of Afghanistan implemented a cryptocurrency ban in August 2022:
“The Central Bank has issued an order prohibiting all money changers, individuals and merchants from transacting with Bitcoin, a fraudulent digital currency.”
Egypt has banned cryptocurrency mining and operations since 2018, citing a statement from Dar Al-Ifta that blockchain operations go against Islamic law because they are akin to gambling or speculation. The fatwa was issued in January 2018 and became legally binding.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) also once again warned against all types of cryptocurrencies in 2022, and violators could face imprisonment. The CBE statement pointed out that its laws "prohibit the issuance, trading or promotion of cryptocurrencies, the creation or operation of platforms for trading, or related activities."
However, Egypt has not been having a good time. The inflation rate has remained at an exaggeratedly high level of 30% in the past two years, and the exchange rate of the Egyptian currency has fallen by 40% in one year.
I blindly guess that the real motive for banning Bitcoin is because of domestic inflation and other reasons, and they are afraid that ordinary people will transfer their assets.
Countries like Morocco and Elgeria also issued bans around 2018, but inflation in these two countries is still relatively stable, and the reasons are basically the same as before:
“Virtual currency is a type of currency used by Internet users through the Internet. Its characteristic is that it has no physical backing such as coins, banknotes, checks or credit card payments.”
But according to reports, government officials in these two countries have recently changed their policy towards cryptocurrencies to "wait and see", and perhaps the ban will be lifted after a while.
For example, as early as 2020, the first blockchain-powered wind farm was implemented in Dakhla, southern Morocco and the windiest region, and the excess energy from these farms powered crypto mining operations there.
Looking at so many countries that crack down on Bitcoin, we can see a common point:
That is, the more centralized a country is, the more it opposes decentralized cryptocurrencies.
