Bitcoin Forum

Cryptocurrency Operations has been laid to halt in Afghanistan and the usage forbidden in the region as it is believed to have been the root in perpetrating fraud and the new regime of the Afghan leaders, the "Taliban" have directed everyone in the country to desist from it acceptance, usage and transactions involving cryptocurrency for making payments while it has banned the commercial banks from it either, many have been arrested for contributing to the use of cryptocurrency by engaging in trading crypto tokens and other related activities that supports the engagement of cryptocurrency within the rule of the Taliban regions in Afghanistan.

The Taliban leadership believed cryptocurrency as an aid in denying them have access over the control of the people's asset as cryptocurrency is believed to be a decentralized digital network whereby anyone can independently secure his financial assets without the rule of the Taliban, this is what they believed as against their ethics in the country and further places engaging cryptocurrency or uses attracts a purnishable act.


Over 20 businesses associated with cryptocurrency had been shut down in Afghanistan and the whole engagement of it has been banned just as in the case of China, hasn't this been an end to cryptocurrency in Afghanistan? or p2p can be use to circumvent the ban but if caught it's a purnishable offense.

Probably an end for now, but sooner or later for sure they will accept it again just like what happened on many countries where they ban and unbanned Bitcoin. P2P might still be the option  but of course, if you get caught that you'll face consequences.

You can choose to travel abroad but I think it's not worth it if you are just holding small crypto, you just need to hold for now and secure that wallet. The market in Afghanistan is not that big, and they are experience a lot of problem since Taliban takes over their country, for now crypto user there should take cautious and avoid being caught.

Afghanistan is like a newly independent country that has to start everything by approaching and exploring in such a way with great care and firmness. Don't know their new system of government yet but a bit like China, that's the way if they want to control the whole flow of finances while most of the population is still not accepting with the new rulers or maybe there are some rebels from them who are still under suspicion thus giving birth to this policy.

Let's think about why they need it?
It is impossible to ban cryptocurrency if the Internet is not blocked.
The first thought is to prevent the withdrawal of savings to other countries. If so, then over time the bans should be lifted.
Another thought is that it is not possible for opponents of the government to receive funding from other countries.

Taliban has their way working and they don't listen to anyone.
They have different mind set - and its not an easy task to mould their minds. So what they decided will stay there.

There is many things going wrong now in the world and I still don't get it why the taliban would have to ban crypto when it is a way for people that are not so financially bouyant or have better things during can get into crypto and find a greenerpasture. How I hope the taliban would understand the benefits of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency at large.
 Bitcoin had made many investors to be millionaires and more people are going to be financially stable by the time the crypto market becomes stable.

Lol,,, such a funny start but it does make a point. They are a young government and it was only a matter of time before they exercise policies such as these that tries to undermine and limit the rights of citizens in a bid to ensure complete control over its populace and finances.

Like many other nations before them, crypto would continue to be used through p2p systems and even in a more radical way too as, it is not just a means to transacting but a source of livelihood to most. The laws and restrictions would be there and the people would still try out there rights to own properties or assets.

Most of the Taliban's policies seem to 'keep' their own ways and their own things on their own without having to rely much from the West in a lot of things. Probably a good thing for Afghanistan for it to retain its identity but it won't hurt for them to try some of freedom on their laws and how they do things. Cryptocurrency will still most certainly be used on a lot of things there, with it just being discreet. There isn't anything that can stop crypto to spread even if there are already written laws against it.

What is interesting in this example is that the Taliban is classified as a religious extremist organization that is classified as a terrorist by many countries. When I find that he adopts a position on new technology, this in itself is a cause for surprise.

Yes, from their announcement it is something close to China. As a country they always try to stay away from the rest of the nations developing each and everything separately. This can be good, but the same won't help everytime. Afghanistan goes one step above China in some important needs like education, where women and men are allocated with different timings on schools.

If the Taliban regime imposed a ban on cryptocurrency trading even in a hypothetical situation if i was living their, i would not conduct any P2P transaction even if everyone convinces me that it is a safe proof method because you never know what kind of punishment you will receive in the unfortunate situation someone from the government try to infiltrate the P2P transactions to catch users making these transactions :D.

Taliban is the illegitimate fascist government of Afghanistan. This is akin to North Korea banning crypto currency. Has no effect on the crypto economy, and I would have already made the presumption that cryptocurrency was banned the moment they took over.


I would highly advise against this, as the Taliban are known to execute innocent Afghan citizens on a whim. Getting caught with crypto currency sounds like the death penalty. Is it worth it?

I used to think that cryptocurrency is actually advantageous rather than disadvantageous to the Taliban because they are importing illegal drugs around the world. The Taliban has been earning hundreds of millions of dollars a year from narcotics. It's probably one of their main sources of income. Well, perhaps they don't need crypto for this kind of transactions. Fiat and the banks are probably the more convenient options for them.

Just watch all the prohibitions that the Taliban have imposed. Are there reasonable restrictions? Should this be surprising? Anything related to freedom is not allowed. The government thinks that it can only govern Afghanistan by force. Sometimes it works. In addition, many residents of Afghanistan have a very low level of education. And it is for them that owning a bitcoin can be a difficult science. Therefore, it is hoped that the government will be able to improve the standard of living and literacy of its people. And after that, they will think about revising the ban on cryptocurrencies.

From September 2021 there is a big problem in the banking sector.
Taliban bans drug cultivation, including lucrative opium
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-bans-drug-cultivation-including-lucrative-opium-2022-04-03/
It was when the Americans controlled Afghanistan that drug production grew there.

It seems the Taliban forgot that when they fought against governments in the past, it was also a fact that to finance their wealth they used crypto transactions to avoid risk. Now the funny thing is that after controlling the government, the leader made a policy towards the people to ban the use of crypto. It sounds ridiculous but from an economic point of view, we see the Taliban getting support from China in building infrastructure. Restoring the devastated territory was China's offer at the time. Now there is a policy that reverses direction. This means that they cannot control financial control if they legalize cryptocurrencies in areas that are still under development. They forget that the guns they buy come from money laundering.

maybe  ::)

Not very surprising. They used to be using cryptocurrency and now they are banning it. They now know the burdens of governing a country where they have no control over the people's wealth.

But most government are up for control so there is nothing to be surprised of.  They could really issue CBDC, this way they can also survey everyone. Since they are legitimized by China, then they can ask support from China.

Well, I'm not surprised! They have some crazy laws in my opinion, but I am open-minded! Education opens up one's mind, and that's not working for the Taliban government, so I don't think they will try to improve their educational system in the right way, they will probably work on spreading their "way of seeing the world" among Afghanistan people! Those who think differently from the government can only run away from there, otherwise, they can only have problems if they are open about it! It's not like Afghanistan is not the only example, sadly there are similar countries...

It all makes sense, boosting the Afghan economy and wanting to be recognized as a country they have to adapt to but still not bow to the US. As their consistent resistance. We know that the realm of Afghanistan cannot be touched by the US, therefore China has the opportunity to negotiate as a form of achieving the same goal. The agreement provides China with a high-speed rail line and expands the coverage sector. Once again doing business with China is the path taken by the current Afghan government.

Including the policy that China will continue to intervene, as a strong ally of China to take risks and open loans as long as it benefits them in building the One Belt One Road route or now known as the Silk Road Economic Belt.

But they shouldn't be too confident that China will not intervene politically.  China will also work like how US did. As for now they will just say the Chinese will deploy their own military to protect their investments in the country like the railways and businesses thru the BRI. They already started in Sri Lanka where they deploy their spy ship in the guise of protecting the port they've rent for like a hundred years. Sooner a military base is possible.

What  Afghanistan need is to also improve their military not just in terms of economic, that they are capable of fighting back and preventing invasion. Its why they have to become rich as well through having their own CBDC.

And when they put a ban on cryptocurrencies it has no effect on the global crypto market, and actually it's their right to ban crypto in their area, but I think as long as there is internet + VPN access anyone can still access crypto for their transactions. They should also focus more on stabilizing the political conditions in their country rather than dealing with things like this.

I'm not surprised that they will go to bitcoin to stop it exchange, transaction or flow of it. There are reasons that can be associated to the pronouncement.

1. They are against the freedom and libration of the people's mind.
2. Like some other countries who have banned it on the grounds of religion.
3. They don't want foreigners to be part of their system.
4. Low level of education

Agreed that Afghanistan is a new government under the leadership of Taliban and they need to set certain mechanism going but outright ban of bitcoin is limitation of human growth.

It's quite strange because these sort of groups have used Cryptos a lot for raising their funding and doing their transactions when they were operating under the hood and now when they have formed a government they are banning other groups from doing it. Obviously at this fragile stage of the economy it's obviously necessary for them to keep all the money in the economy in their control. But yes they can make Cryptos as their base to create an all new type of economy.

For the Taliban, this is part of their "great" plan to return Afghanistan to the "Stone Age"! Trust me, they will succeed.
I perfectly understand why the United States left Afghanistan - you cannot teach people to live like normal people, well and civilized, if they absolutely do not want it!
The problem of the "new" Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban is that in addition to the fact that they will very quickly lead Afghanistan itself to total degradation, they will become a new, yet another center of regional terrorism. It is precisely because the surrounding countries did nothing to try to pull Afghanistan out of this path that the United States spat on this whole idea, and did not want to independently resolve the issues of those who should have been most interested in this.

Too bad for them, they are afraid of this kind of change and obviously their Taliban government don’t want to give any freedom to their people since cryptocurrency promotes freedom away from the government control. Sadly, Afghanistan people left with no choice but to follow their government, hopefully they can really stand on their own and stop the terrorism now that they fully control the whole country again, though we cannot expect this one but if you are holding crypto and living in Afghanistan, I’m sure there’s still a way to liquidate your crypto.

Can't spell "Taliban" without "ban"  ;D

Jokes aside, it's not surprising that a country with crumbling economy and religious fundamentalist government would ban crypto, these types of people see freedom as a threat to their rule. The good news is that Bitcoin was created to operate in any conditions, including under threats from government, so its users in Afghanistan will still have access to it, they just need to be extra careful to not get caught.

Not sure if I'm buying any of this mainstream media nonsense--for all we know, this could just be anti-crypto propaganda driven by an agenda none of us know about.  Kind of like all of those stories about bitcoin's use in money laundering and crime and so forth, none of which detract from its value as a currency or store of value.

I mean, this is a Bloomberg article for Christ's sake.  That's as agenda-driven and mainstream as it gets.  Take all of this with an enormous chunk of salt.

True, but the threat of intimidation and being reported will loom strong and will most likely prove to be a strong deterrence of crypto use unless you are brave enough to risk facing the wrath.

That's old news. Here is a new one, published just days ago by the Atlantic Council: Afghanistan’s drug trade is booming under Taliban rule (https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/southasiasource/afghanistans-drug-trade-is-booming-under-taliban-rule/).

Everything is cheap talk for the Taliban. Well, you can't blame them. They badly need to put up a handsome face in front of the international community to make their government look legitimate and for the rest of the world to trust or at least recognize them, or perhaps support them in some ways.

But not only did illegal drugs trade not stop when Taliban took over the government, it actually grew massively.

And how could they manage to effectively stop it when:

• it is a source of stable livelihood for hundreds of thousands of its poor people
• it provides great revenue to a country that is in the middle of a severe economic and humanitarian crisis
• it could ignite violent anger and resistance among its people
• it provides some sort of economic relief amidst many sanctions, frozen central bank assets, withdrawal of huge foreign aids, and so on
• it seems to be the best and most profitable option for farmers amidst lack of alternatives, especially in times of severe drought
• the government itself lacks resources to efficiently enforce such order
• they simply couldn't survive without it.

---

Sources:
1. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/southasiasource/afghanistans-drug-trade-is-booming-under-taliban-rule/
2. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210819-taliban-vow-to-ban-heroin-but-can-they-survive-without-it

The most popular use of the cryptocurrency is Bitcoin in Afghanistan. Beyond the risk of trading in a currency that can change in value dramatically in a matter of hours, users also face regulatory and political pressures.

Perhaps the country's Ministry of Finance issued an order stopping all transactions related to cryptocurrencies. Now because there is another important policy and must be done. While digital currencies are growing in popularity in the region, there are a number of barriers preventing cryptocurrencies from taking off.

The reason they ban crypto is because it is used as a fraudulent tool is ridiculous because they themselves have deceived the Afghan people by making fools.
They ban crypto because they understand that it can be used for outside funding to people inside who do not agree with the system of government they run.
It is permissible or not for the Afghan people not important things because they need food more than crypto policies which use the internet to acess its, while they themselves most likely do not have access to the internet.

What a reason, to control people's asset? Well, I almost forgot that it's the Taliban government and they're not different from the communist parties that are reigning in other countries.

Well, whether they impose a ban, will they be able to trace those Afghans that will have transactions and will use some VPN to avoid connected to their networks?

I don't think that they have that technology or even they do, it's close to impossible.

The taliban could gain by authenticating their opium trade using a blockchain ledger to verify the integrity of inventories. The legal marijuana industry is a great blueprint of this. The taliban must be very concerned about the environment and climate change. They will make a hard commitment towards carbon neutrality. Forgo things which mainstream media claims are gateways to money laundering. Of course, the questionable nature of their opium industry will continue without interruption. Most will not link a high number of opium fatalities worldwide to afghanistan or the taliban. It could be safe to say there are a few conflicts of interest present.

It is known that islam contains teachings against usury banking with high interest rates. Its literally against their religion. Which could mean islam supports technologies like bitcoin on a fundamental level. The motive behind the taliban disavowing crypto becomes an interesting topic. Due to the circumstances and conditions surrounding the stance.

And then someone else wonders why those ban-maniacs finally banned cryptocurrencies, when in that country they ban even music and television.


After 20 years under the Americans and others who were there on a mission to introduce democracy, we now see how successful they were in that. It's only a matter of time before the Taliban are completely back to their old ways (if they haven't already), but as long as they don't engage in terrorizing outside their own country, the West will pretend that there are some good guys out there.

Why don't you make a trip out there to see it with your own eyes, but I think you would be better with no jeans, no shirt, no usa flag on anything and better keep your mouth shut and not speak a word in English. Also, burn your passport as some really bad things happen to the ones coming from certain countries.
Of course, whatever I say can be also taken for western propaganda, that's why I'm saying, go down there and see it with your own eyes!  :D
One thing you can be sure of, I will do miss you!  :D

Out of pure curiosity, is cointelegraph and their sources also mainsteam media?
https://cointelegraph.com/news/what-the-taliban-crackdown-means-for-crypto-s-future-in-afghanistan

I wonder why is everyone surprised a totalitarian zealot-like regime would ban anything that isn't explicitly allowed by their holy book, don't we already have history to confirm how they acted before? But it's really funny, every country that acts like an enemy of the US and wants death to the dollar is also against Bitcoin, while the US is quite the opposite, makes you think things for a bit.


And it was the Russians buying it, directly from Russia today:
https://www.rt.com/news/afghanistan-opiates-heroin-ivanov-140/
https://www.rt.com/news/un-report-russia-heroin/


Oh, what times, when Russia Today was actually reporting stuff, not used just for propaganda!
Do you remember those times? When you were free to talk about everything?

Maybe they think that things have changed in that country because the peacekeepers have gone home? It is incredible how many people think that the Taliban really wanted to change, because in the minds of these people, nothing has changed in the past 50 years, and it certainly won't in the next 500 years.

I wonder what would happen if Bitcoin was declared legal tender in Afghanistan? Maybe the streets would be full of armed people who would shout Bitcoin Akbar, while on the way they would beat up some kid who was found using FB on his phone or had a song by Miley Cyrus ::)

Lol! Is it something very unexpected? We all knew that such kind of blanket ban is coming but we didn't know when it will be coming. Now it's official! I believe Taliban leadership will still use cryptocurrency for terrorism financing for various sleeper terrorist cells they operate in many countries.

Afghanistan is going through a huge humanitarian crisis now. Taliban will destroy everything progressive and focus on religious teachings only. It's very sad to see such nonsense in 2022.

Ramp it up a bit!
Imagine if the Taliban would declare Ethereum halal and Bitcoin haram, this would truly be a grab popcorn time!
As for the second part I wished you would have said Justin Beiber so I could have said, well the kid deserved the beating!  ;D


Yeah, why would the Taliban want to change when their own existence and faith are based on not changing a thing from how things were a thousand years ago?
It was obvious this would happen, they played along for a while to make sure the Americans are not coming back and launching another air campaign, but since the danger seems gone now they have shown their true colors.

I am not surprised with this news because we talking about a country which got forcefully independent and with the most dangerous criminals around the world rules it now. What do we expect from them? They are decision makers based on faulty logics and religious sayings etc. Those guys are literally not thinking straight about anything. No woman empowerment, no this job that job, no foreign relationships! Man that’s gonna take them no where and soon that dynasty will sink to the bottom of ocean. Worlds changing at fastest rate and adoption is much needed all the time. So what can we say about the decision they made about bitcoin or crypto currency? It’s lame.

Taliban are different people and their laws are stricts.
If they have imposed a ban - they make sure that no one deals in bitcoin and they will not let happen in Afghanistan - that is for sure. .

These guys show themselves as saviours of the world come from God. They implement each and everything on the holy book and they fail to follow it. The people needs to follow and they're exempted from it. Anyhow it is none of our business. The people atleast had the freedom of money using cryptocurrencies, now restriction on the same is really bad. It is a country that is being denied support by other nations. At such critical situation the people find good out of the cryptocurrency. As said someday the government might realise the need and make it legal.

They want to fully control their people, freedom will not be the option for them. They have set of rules and better to follow that. If you are still living in Afghanistan better to look for a chance to get away from that place, that place is slowly going back to the old age, and with your crypto most probably you can’t have the power to control it on that place, it will surely put you on a bigger risk.

The West is not pretending anything, Taliban is under sanctions, they can't access previous Afghan government's financial reserves and so on. They just realized that Afghanistan is a lost cause.


Afghanistan doesn't have one ethnicity, instead it has many tribes, and they even speak different languages. They didn't understand why should they live under one single country and government. And a lot of them didn't care if Taliban returned or not, plus the government was very corrupt and weak. So the moment the US soldiers left, it all collapsed. It was impossible to build not only democracy, but any state at all in such conditions. I think it's a valuable lesson for humanity, as it shows that for social change to happen, certain conditions must be met.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/southasiasource/afghanistans-drug-trade-is-booming-under-taliban-rule/
"Afghanistan’s drug economy expanded dramatically after the US- and NATO-led invasion in 2001. The amount of land under poppy cultivation almost tripled between 2002 and 2020, and the country also started to produce cheap methamphetamine using an abundant local plant—ephedra. "
Darker45 gave a link to the article, 29 post

Or maybe the United States came to Afghanistan for a different purpose, and not to teach local residents to "live like normal people".

There is always a choice!
Part of the inhabitants of Afghanistan left their country. Part - resisted degradation. And most cowardly sat and pretended that they did not influence anything, that the "wise ruler" would decide for them, and in general they had nothing to do with it! In such countries, terrorism, obscurantism, degradation, and many other "charms of the wild Stone Age" come to the "throne". But this is the choice of the majority, and if they do not oppose and do not resist, it means that it suits them!!! And in vain that the United States spent so much effort and money, and the lives of its soldiers, to give a chance to live like people, people who do not want to live normally! So it turns out that Afghanistan is not the only country with such a people ... But they won’t have the capitalist Internet and girls in open clothes, which is so cool, isn’t it worth living in the Stone Age for? :)

... well, continue to develop the idea logically. Let's assume that you are right, like the writer of that article. If everything is so good, profitable, and the United States has managed to manage drug trafficking and make a huge profit from it, why did they leave such a cozy and profitable place? :)

If someone occupies your house, what would be your reaction? Surely you'll go to every extent to get your home back.

Similarly, Afghanistan was/is the Taliban's home, which was occupied by America, so they were trying /fighting to get it back.

Yes, I also do not agree with their harsh policies ( like not allowing girls to study)

but when one says that they did not do well by taking their country back from America. I won't agree.

As far as I know, there is a war going on between Isis and the Taliban. which is causing harm to ordinary people. Maybe this is the reason why this "afghan hotel owner" wants America back so that they can live their life peacefully.

Let's not confuse strict laws with idiocy and devolutionary development? There are a lot of countries with strict laws, national traditions, religious restrictions, but not many of them strive for degradation and sliding into the Stone Age!
The reason for such an act is extremely clear - it is difficult to manage PEOPLE, educated, enlightened, thinking, and it is impossible to make a flock of obedient sheep out of them. From people who are narrow-minded, undeveloped, afraid to think - it is extremely simple!