Afghanistan Shuts Down 16 Cryptocurrency Exchanges, Arrests Operators – Exchange Bitcoin News

Law enforcement in Afghanistan has shut down over a dozen crypto exchanges in Herat, and arrested the people who ran them. The offensive comes after the introduction of a ban on online currency exchange which the Taliban appears to have applied to coin trading as well.

The Taliban government is going after crypto trading in Afghanistan, citing fraud as a motive

Afghan security forces have shut down a number of crypto exchanges in western Herat province over the past week, the English-language Ariana News portal reported on Tuesday. At least 16 platforms dealing in digital currencies have been shut down, the outlet revealed.

The report quotes the head of the anti-crime unit of the Herat police Sayed Shah Sa’adat who recalled that Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the country’s monetary authority, said in a message that crypto trading had caused many problems, including fraud. human beings. He also stated:

We acted and arrested all the money changers involved in the business and closed their shops.

Ghulam Mohammad Suhrabi, who heads the Herat Money Exchangers’ Union, explained that Afghan companies are opening cryptocurrency accounts outside the country. “This currency is new to the market and has high volatility,” he noted.

The Afghan officials are likely referring to a statement by the central bank in Kabul which, according to a Bloomberg report from late June, declared online currency trading to be against Islam and banned it. Through a spokesman, the regulator warned that anyone who engages in this activity will be prosecuted. The bank’s representative elaborates:

As Afghanistan Bank considers online currency trading illegal and fraudulent and there is no instruction in Islamic law to authorize it. As a result, we have banned it.

In mid-July, DAB issued a new statement reinforcing the order, according to Ariana News. The bank said Afghans, especially in the capital, were still shopping despite the ban. The authority stressed that it had not licensed any person or company to trade online, and those who continued to do so were breaking the law.

After the Taliban returned to power in Kabul, Afghanistan’s weak economy fell into an even deeper crisis. The US, which withdrew its forces in 2021, seized $10 billion of DAB’s assets and imposed sanctions.

Economic restrictions and the withdrawal of Western companies made it more difficult for the Afghan diaspora to send money home. As a result, many Afghans turned to crypto, which also helped them preserve their savings and prevent potential government seizures.

Do you think Taliban-ruled Afghanistan will continue to crack down on crypto exchange platforms? Share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.