In which countries is legal the cryptocurrencies use?

We recently learned how the Asian giant totally banned the use and commercialization of cryptocurrencies. Before that, cryptocurrency transactions could not be considered "legal", but there was also no legal framework that directly prohibited it.

Leaving aside the blow that this represented for the entire sector, since a large number of miners were concentrated in China. This may be a precedent for other countries to make the decision to also ban them.

On this occasion, I want to briefly review the legal situation of cryptocurrencies around the world.

A decentralized currency

First of all, let's remember the basic principle of cryptocurrencies, which is to be a decentralized means of payment. On the blockchain, transactions are "anonymous" between users.

There is nothing that relates you to a transaction, at least in the wallets that you install on your computer, mobile or hardware wallets.

So this means that the governments of the world cannot simply determine who uses cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.

These latest measures from China do not mean that people will not be able to make use of their cryptocurrencies, but that now a kind of “black market” is created.

The legal situation of cryptocurrencies around the world

To make this much easier to understand, we are going to divide the countries into 4 groups. Next, I'll talk to you a little more in depth.

Countries that allow them

As of this writing, there are only two countries in which one or more cryptocurrencies are legal tender.

The first is Venezuela, a few years ago, but in this country the legal tender cryptocurrency is the “Petro”. This is a government created coin, although in reality, its use is really very limited as it lacks trust.

The other country is El Salvador, a country that recently adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender. This coexists in conjunction with the Colón, the official currency of this country. However, this is only limited to Bitcoin and not to other cryptocurrencies.

Countries where private transactions are allowed

In most of the world, there is a "neutral" stance when it comes to cryptocurrencies. In these cases, while governments do not support its use, they do not prohibit it either. And it is the responsibility of the people if they take risks when making use of this currency.

This list is too long, so we will mention only a few of them.

Albania Angola Argentina Australia Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Brunei Chile Cyprus South Korea United States Philippines Hong Kong Israel Japan Mexico Nicaragua New Zealand European Union

As we already mentioned, these are just a few, since the majority of countries around the world are in this group.

Countries in which there are banking restrictions

There are some countries in which although those who carry out private transactions are not prosecuted or convicted , banks are prohibited from participating in the market. Among the countries that have this condition we have the following:

Saudi Arabia Bangladesh Cambodia Canada Colombia Ecuador Indonesia Iran Jordan Nigeria Qatar Russia Taiwan Tanzania Turkey Vietnam

Countries where it is prohibited

Other countries totally prohibit transactions related to cryptocurrencies. Be it exchange, payments, savings, investment or mining. The list is not too long, but after China's move, this list could start to get longer.

Algeria Bolivia China Egypt Morocco Nepal

This is the legal situation of cryptocurrencies around the world, the majority of the country manages a “flexible” position regarding them. However, the list of countries where they are banned has been growing.