In Afghanistan, the Taliban regime has already arrested multiple people that have been trading cryptocurrencies. After this month’s nationwide ban on crypto was announced by Afghanistan’s central bank, a series of arrests occurred, as confirmed by Bloomberg.
The ban was implemented due to many Afghan people using cryptocurrencies as a method to keep their wealth safe and away from the reach of the Taliban. Shaah Saadat, the head of criminal investigations at Herat police headquarters reported that 13 people have already been arrested, with the majority freed later on bail. Additionally, over 20 crypto-related companies have been shut down in Herat, Afghanistan’s third largest city, which was the center for digital assets trading. Shah Saadat said:
“The central bank gave us an order to stop all money changers, individuals, and businesspeople from trading fraudulent digital currencies like what is commonly referred to as Bitcoin.”
Due to the global sanctions imposed on the Taliban group, Afghanistan has been cut off from the global financial system, and so the use of cryptocurrencies became a common method of doing money transactions within and outside of the country.
Even when the market crisis hits and causes losses of over 2 trillion USD and many crypto-related businesses shut down, many countries meet the digital assets face to face, establishing regulations and enforcing them, like South Korea, EU members, the USA, etc. Unfortunately, there are a few cases when countries fully ban cryptocurrencies. China, Egypt, Morocco, Bolivia, Nepal, and many others now welcome Afghanistan as a new member of the list of countries that prohibited cryptocurrencies.
