Last week, Pakistan’s Sindh High Court held a hearing on the legal status of digital currencies that might lead to an outright ban of cryptocurrency trading combined with penalties against crypto exchanges. Several days later, the Central Bank of Russia called for a ban on both crypto trading and mining operations. Both countries could join the growing ranks of nations that have moved to outlaw digital assets, which already include China, Turkey, Iran and several other jurisdictions.
According to a report by the Library of Congress, there are currently nine jurisdictions that have applied an absolute ban on crypto and 42 with an implicit ban. The authors of the report highlight a worrisome trend: The number of countries banning crypto has more than doubled since 2018. Here are the countries that banned certain cryptocurrency-related activities or announced their intention to do so in 2021 and early 2022.