Over 50 Countries Have Placed Bans on Crypto: Library of Congress Report

A total of 51 countries around the world have placed a ban on the crypto industry, according to a report published by the Global Legal Research Directorate (GLRD) of the Law Library of Congress. 

The report was originally published in 2018 but has since been updated with new findings. 

“While the 2018 report identified 8 jurisdictions with an absolute ban and 15 jurisdictions with an implicit ban, the November 2021 update identifies 9 jurisdictions with an absolute ban and 42 with an implicit ban,” the report said. 

Absolute bans refer to those that make cryptocurrencies illegal. 

Implicit bans refer to those which prohibit banks or other financial institutions from dealing in cryptocurrencies or offering services to people or businesses that involve crypto. They also refer to placing bans on cryptocurrency exchanges from operating in the jurisdiction.

Breaking down the bans

The Library of Congress report details nine countries that have placed absolute blocks on crypto. 

These countries are Algeria, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Nepal, Qatar, and Tunisia. Among them, China has made the biggest headlines throughout the year. 

Since 2017, the Chinese government has banned cryptocurrency trading, however, it doubled down this year after cracking down on crypto mining. This resulted in a huge geopolitical shift among miners to other parts of the world. The United States is now the largest market, with Kazakhstan and Russia coming in second and third, respectively. 

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Prior to the crackdown on Bitcoin mining, China controlled approximately two-thirds of the industry. 

In the implicit bracket, countries like Tanzania, Toga, Turkey, Lebanon, and Bolivia are included. Alarmingly, there are 21 countries that have been confirmed to not apply anti-money laundering or counter-terrorism financing regulations on the crypto industry. 

These include Brazil, Guernsey, Jordan, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan, which has become one of the world’s leading mining jurisdictions.