Egypt Cryptocurrency Prohibition: What It Means for Users and Traders
When Egypt declared a cryptocurrency prohibition, a nationwide ban on trading, holding, and promoting digital assets by banks and financial institutions, it wasn’t just a policy shift—it was a signal that the government didn’t trust decentralized money. This ban, enforced by the Central Bank of Egypt in 2020, made it illegal for banks to process any transactions tied to Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other crypto. But here’s the twist: people still trade. Not because they’re breaking the law lightly, but because they have no other way to protect their savings from inflation or send money abroad without paying huge fees.
The Central Bank of Egypt, the nation’s primary financial regulator with authority over banking and currency policy never banned crypto ownership outright—just financial institution involvement. That loophole created a gray zone. Peer-to-peer trading, over-the-counter deals, and foreign exchanges became the new normal. Many Egyptians now use P2P platforms, online marketplaces where individuals directly buy and sell crypto without intermediaries like LocalBitcoins or Paxful to get USDT, often at premiums. These platforms don’t require bank accounts, so they slip past the ban. Meanwhile, blockchain legality Egypt, the legal status of using distributed ledger technology outside of banking remains unclear. While crypto trading is restricted, building apps on blockchain or using smart contracts for business isn’t illegal—so long as no bank touches the money.
Why does this matter? Because Egypt has one of the highest inflation rates in the region, and the Egyptian pound has lost over 50% of its value since 2022. For many, crypto isn’t speculation—it’s survival. A student in Cairo might use crypto to get paid for freelance work from the U.S. A small business owner might use it to pay suppliers in Turkey without waiting weeks for a bank transfer. The ban didn’t stop demand—it just pushed it underground. And that’s why you’ll find articles in this collection covering everything from how Egyptians bypass the ban to which exchanges still accept Egyptian users, what risks come with P2P trading, and how global crypto regulations are slowly changing the game.
What follows are real-world reports on crypto platforms that still work in Egypt, scams targeting users trying to trade legally, and how local entrepreneurs are adapting. You won’t find fluff here—just facts on who’s still trading, how, and what happens when the authorities catch on.
