This news is incorrect or misunderstood.
The source of this news is here[1], "Unfortunately there are some mistakes in translation."
The original version is in Arabic [2] talk about:
- Cryptocurrencies are not supported within the Kingdom, and dealing with it is risky.
- Bitcoin is not considered a certified currency in the Kingdom, and therefore the allegations "that is a certified currency" in the Kingdom is incorrect.
Accordingly, Bitcoin is not considered a certified currency Not "Bitcoin Trading Is Illegal in Saudi Arabia"
also, There is a Bitcoin ATM in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia[3]
Thank you for pointing out the misunderstanding. Knowing that they have an ATM in Saudi Arabia is just an evidence that they do not consider it as illegal. Maybe sooner or later when more Middle East would consider adopting cryptocurrencies like UAE then they would just regulate it then instead of restricting people to have dealings with transactions.
They claim to be trying to protect their citizens from a high risk investment, but in reality, bitcoin is probably a much better store of value than most of the fiat currencies that governments around the world are issuing right now in the long run. By outlawing instead of regulating exchanges within your country, you're actually generating even more risk for the users.
Government would rather choose something that they control which is fiat than having bitcoin as a "certified currency" because they may not benefit from the transactions and as what they say, they are afraid that people will involve themselves in something illegal because of anonymity feature of it.