Afghan Central Bank Orders Suspension of Cryptocurrency Markets Across the Country

At Least 13 Detained During Taliban Raid Against Digital Exchange Markets in Herat Province

Aug. 26 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Central Bank of Afghanistan has officially banned the use of cryptocurrencies throughout the country after the Taliban fundamentalist movement announced the arrest of those responsible for at least 16 exchange markets for these virtual currencies in the province of Herat, in the west. of the country, one of the mercantile epicenters of cryptocurrency in the Central Asian country.

“The Bank of Afghanistan has let us know by letter that digital currency trading has caused a lot of problems and is scamming people, so it is necessary to close it,” Ariana, the head of the Anti-Crime Unit, explained to the Afghan channel. of the Herat Police, Sayed Shah Sadat.

“We have acted and arrested all those involved in these businesses and closed their markets,” he added, before specifying to the Bloomberg agency a total of 13 detainees in these operations.

The current Taliban government has decided to launch an offensive against cryptocurrencies at a time when the country is disconnected from the international banking system due to sanctions re-imposed by the United States and its allies since the fundamentalist movement took control of the country by force. in August of last year. Since then, cryptocurrency has become a tool for Afghans to move money in and out of the country.

A report last year by research firm Chainalysis ranked Afghanistan as one of the top 20 countries in the world in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. The results were weighted by purchasing power parity per capita, which favors poorer nations.

Some academics had long anticipated, however, that the Taliban would end up banning cryptocurrencies because they were considered ‘haram’ or prohibited for Muslims, as it has elements of “gambling and uncertainty”.

“Accounts in digital currency are outside the country and are bought from companies. Our people are not familiar with it, so it is better not to use it. This currency is new to the market and has a high fluctuation,” adds Ariana the director of the Union of Money Exchangers of Heart, Ghulam Mohamad Suhrabi.

However, other Muslim-majority countries have taken a more lenient approach. The United Arab Emirates allows cryptocurrency trading in the Dubai free zone, while Bahrain supports digital assets since 2019.