Ride the Lightning

Where is Cryptocurrency Legal? Here’s An Interactive Map!

June 30, 2022

NBC’s LX News posted a great interactive map on June 22 showing where crypto is legal. Start the map rolling and the map will show you where crypto is completely banned, partially banned, not illegal, where bitcoin is legal tender, etc.  Scroll down and you can see the static map, which presents a static version of the interactive map which you can enlarge.

Tap or hover to see specific regulations about taxation, anti-money laundering laws, and counter-financing of terrorism laws. Use the searchable table at the bottom of the article to find more information. The compiled data comes from various sources, including the Global Legal Research Directorate at the Law Library of Congress, state archives, and various legal databases.

More than 1.8 billion people around the world are banned from using crypto by their government. The crypto industry is banned in 13 countries, including Algeria, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Iraq.

For 1.3 billion people in 40 countries, crypto is partially banned. Banks can’t offer crypto services to customers or exchanges — apps that let you buy and sell crypto — can’t legally operate. Crypto users may be able to trade and invest at their own risk, but they can’t exchange crypto for cash or use it to make payments.

For 3.6 billion people in 75 countries — roughly half of Earth’s population — crypto is legal to some extent. The U.S., Mexico, Japan, Australia, and most of Europe permit people to trade crypto and cash out using exchanges Some regulations may apply.

The most common regulations define how crypto will be taxed, assist authorities in flagging suspicious account activity and ensuring money is not used to fund terrorists. These regulations are called anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism laws.

Only two countries have given Bitcoin legal tender status — El Salvador and the Central African Republic.  

American officials are talking about crypto. In California, Assembly Bill 2689 aims to define crypto as a legal method of payment. In Arizona, SB1341 aims to make Bitcoin legal tender. In 2022, 35 other states have had crypto legislation on their agenda, ranging from taxation to establishing legal guidelines for the crypto industry.

In the US Senate, Republican Cynthia Lummis and Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand are pushing the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, an attempt to bring order to the crypto world by switching regulatory duties from the SEC to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, establishing rules for crypto companies, and creating consumer protections.

I expect we’ll see a lot of cryptocurrency laws passed in the next year and more federal regulations in place.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225, Fairfax, VA 22030
Email:   Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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