North Macedonia is the only European country that has officially banned cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and others. The ban in Algeria follows concerns raised by parliamentarians that cryptocurrencies are mainly used to carry out illegal activities such as terrorist financing, drug trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion, according to the Baker McKenzie report. It defines cryptocurrency mining as activities aimed at creating cryptocurrencies for the purpose of receiving compensation in the form of cryptocurrency. It then banned all domestic crypto mining in June and finally banned cryptocurrency altogether in September.
This means that their governments do not allow financial institutions to hire companies or cryptocurrency holders as customers or that they even prohibit the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges, among other restrictions. China made big headlines when it banned cryptocurrencies last year, but it's just one of dozens of countries and jurisdictions that have banned cryptocurrencies directly or severely restricted them in recent years. The Central Bank of Russia and Rosfinmonitoring, in their informational appeals, have repeatedly warned Russian citizens that all cryptocurrency transactions are speculative and carry a high risk of loss of value. In a report, the institution indicates that cryptocurrencies are volatile and are widely used in illegal activities such as fraud.
Despite numerous controversies surrounding virtual currencies, prominent Pakistani bloggers and social media influencers are publicly involved in bitcoin trading and regularly post content on social media in favor of regulating cryptocurrencies. Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Oman, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Bangladesh and China have banned cryptocurrencies. The law on cryptocurrency transactions must comply with the law against money laundering and with measures to protect investment users. According to the Library of Congress, the Central Bank does not yet recognize cryptocurrency as a form of payment.
The legal status of cryptocurrencies varies substantially from one jurisdiction to another, and is not yet defined or is changing in many of them. The Financial Market Authority (FMA) has warned investors that cryptocurrencies are risky and that the FMA does not monitor or regulate virtual currencies, including bitcoin or cryptocurrency trading platforms. The exchange of cryptocurrency for rubles and foreign currency is allowed, but only through authorized operators. The world's second largest economy had previously been a leader in cryptocurrency mining, and government measures against cryptocurrencies caused significant sales before prices stabilized.
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has asked banks in Cambodia not to allow people to transact with cryptocurrency.
