If you know everything about cryptocurrencies and are probably even using them, you might be thinking that you could use it everywhere. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but there are some countries in this world that have banned the use of cryptocurrencies. In fact, there are 125 out of 195 countries where cryptocurrency is legal but it is encouraged in only 54.
There can be many reasons for banning cryptocurrency in a country, one of the most important one being that they aren’t regulated by banks. Mostly for safety measures, some countries have banned the usage of cryptocurrencies while some simply don’t encourage it full-fledged.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the regulation of cryptocurrency in every country.
Countries Where Cryptocurrency is Legal and Used the Most
Mostly, cryptocurrencies are popularly used in the developed countries. Trading and mining in cryptocurrencies has become popular here and is therefore encouraged. The following have witnessed the maximum cryptocurrency trade last year:
- Nigeria
- Vietnam
- South Africa
- Turkey
- Peru
- Spain
- USA
- Germany
- Japan
Countries Where Cryptocurrency is Legal & Accepted
Most countries have accepted cryptocurrency for trading. Some of the developing countries are taking initiatives to regulate it too while in some its usage is increasing already. These include:
- Bermuda
- Canada
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Venezuela
- Cuba
- Haiti
- Lesotho
- Anguilla
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Australia
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Gibraltar
- Estonia
- Finland
- Guernsey
- France
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Uzbekistan
- Isle of Man
- Jersey
- India
- Indonesia
- Switzerland
- Philippines
- Ukraine
- Luxembourg
- Kuwait
- Israel
- Liechtenstein
- Norway
- Marshall Islands
- Malta
- Poland
- Slovakia
- Sweden
- UK
- Vanuatu
Countries Where Cryptocurrency is Unregulated or Discouraged but Not Illegal
There are still a lot of countries that do not recognize cryptocurrency to be a legal tender. These governments discourage its usage by issuing warnings while others neither have regulations nor any crypto users. These include:
- Austria
- Belize
- Chile
- Iceland
- Latvia
- Antigua & Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Grenada
- Slovenia
- Macau
- Samoa
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- New Zealand
- Malaysia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Mozambique
- Georgia
- Macedonia
- Swaziland
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
- Moldova
- Montero
- Bahrain
- Egypt
- Kosovo
- Montserrat
- Portugal
- Jordan
- Armenia
- Romania
- Saint Kitts & Nevis
- Belgium
- Costa Rica
- Saint Lucia
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Saint Vincent & the Grenadines
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Mexico
- Lebanon
- Morocco
- Oman
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- UAE
- Ghana
- Kenya
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Jamaica
- Hong Kong
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Cyprus
- Pakistan
- Brunei
- Tajikistan
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Lithuania
- Netherlands
- Serbia
Countries Where Cryptocurrency is Banned and Illegal
Due to issues in security or struggles in the economy, there are some countries in the world that have imposed a strict ban on cryptocurrency. You can neither trade in them nor mine them here. These include:
- Algeria
- China
- Bolivia
- Iran
- Russia
- Colombia
- Bangladesh
- Iraq
- Namibia
- Kyrgyzstan
- Nepal
- Cambodia
Should You Trade in Cryptocurrency?
Even though you have most countries discouraging its trade in the world, there is no doubt there are crypto miners and traders who are making a fortune too. So, if your country encourages and regulates its trade in any way, you won’t be at a loss in trading them. However, this implies that you understand the market well as it is not totally risk-free.
