Egypt cryptocurrency prohibition: Why it happened and what it means for users

When Egypt cryptocurrency prohibition, a government-imposed ban on cryptocurrency trading and services enacted in 2020 by the Central Bank of Egypt. Also known as crypto ban Egypt, it was one of the first major moves in Africa to fully restrict digital asset use outside state-controlled channels. Unlike countries that regulate crypto, Egypt chose to shut it down completely — no exchanges, no wallets, no peer-to-peer trading allowed under local law.

This decision didn’t come out of nowhere. The Central Bank of Egypt linked crypto to money laundering, terror financing, and capital flight. At the time, the Egyptian pound was under heavy pressure, and citizens were turning to Bitcoin and USDT to protect savings from inflation. The government saw this as a threat to monetary control. They didn’t just warn people — they made it illegal for banks and financial institutions to process any crypto-related transactions. Even using foreign platforms like Binance or Kraken from inside Egypt became a legal gray zone, with users risking account freezes or fines.

What’s interesting is how the ban affected real people. Many Egyptians still use crypto privately — through peer-to-peer apps, Telegram groups, or cash trades. But they do it quietly. There’s no official exchange, no legal mining, no tax framework. Meanwhile, countries like Nigeria and South Africa moved toward regulation, making Egypt an outlier in the region. The African crypto regulation, the evolving legal landscape for digital assets across African nations, often shaped by inflation, remittance needs, and financial inclusion goals is moving fast, but Egypt stayed put. Even when other nations began experimenting with CBDCs or licensed platforms, Egypt held firm. The crypto enforcement, government actions to monitor, block, or punish unauthorized cryptocurrency activity here is passive but firm: banks report suspicious activity, and users who get caught face legal pressure.

If you’re in Egypt and want to hold crypto, you can — but you’re on your own. No legal recourse if you get scammed. No protection if your wallet is hacked. No way to cash out through local banks. And if you try to run a business around it, you’re risking fines or worse. The cryptocurrency legality, the official status of digital assets under national law, which can range from fully legal to completely banned in Egypt remains frozen in 2024. No signs of change. No public debate. Just silence from regulators.

Below, you’ll find real reviews and analyses of platforms people actually use — even under these restrictions. Some are exchanges people bypass with VPNs. Others are tools for tracking asset seizures or understanding how privacy coins are used in high-inflation zones. These aren’t guides on how to break the law. They’re maps of what’s happening on the ground — where the rules don’t match reality.