Vibe killers: Here are the countries that moved to outlaw crypto in the past year
Last week, Pakistan’s Sindh High Court held a hearing on the legal status of digital currencies that might lead an outright ban of cryptocurrency trading combined with penalties against crypto exchanges. Several days later, the Central Bank of Russia called for a ban on both crypto trading and mining operations. Both countries could join the growing ranks of nations that moved to outlaw digital assets, which already include China, Turkey, Iran and several other jurisdictions.
According to a report by the Library of Congress (LOC), there are currently nine jurisdictions that have applied an absolute ban on crypto and 42 with an implicit ban. The authors of the report highlight a worrisome trend: the number of countries banning crypto has more than doubled since 2018. Here are the countries that banned certain cryptocurrency-related activities or announced their intention to do so in 2021 and early 2022.
The Bolivian Central Bank (BCB) issued its first crypto prohibition resolution in late 2020, but it was not until Jan. 13, 2022 that the ban was formally ratified. The language of the most recent ban specifically targets “private initiatives related to the use and commercialization of [...] cryptoassets.”
The regulator justified the move by investor protection considerations. It warned of “potential risks of generating economic losses to the [...] holders” and emphasized the need to protect Bolivians from fraud and scams.
Cryptocurrency transactions have been formally banned in the People's Republic of China since 2019, but it was last year when the government took steps to clamp down on crypto activity in earnest. Several official warnings of the risks associated with crypto investment were followed by a ban on
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