Topic: Kuwait Bans Bitcoin and crypto payments, investement and mining (Read 354 times)

Yeah, just weird that the Kuwaiti government are preventing the growth of crypto. While their neighbors are doing the opposite. I had a talk with a friend who is working in Dubai right now and he asked me about what apps or exchanges I used to trade. So I said Binance, and he said that they are also looking at Binance because they want to do some training.

In any case though, if the Kuwaiti government will go against it then nothing we can do. But if there neighbouring countries become a crypto hub, maybe they will change their stance here.

The leaders of each country will have to decide what path to take, right now they are taking the path they think is the safest which is to just ban bitcoin and any activity related to it, however if we are right in our assumptions and bitcoin becomes as big as we think it can become then this move is going to hinder Kuwait and similar countries as they will be way behind the race, compared to the countries which decided to adopt a more friendly attitude towards bitcoin and this could cost them dearly on the future.

I would like to point out two ideas to respond to those who were surprised by Kuwait taking this step:

First, why is Kuwait expected to support cryptocurrencies? I do not know why some positions condemning the news carried to my mind that Kuwait is a very influential element, or that it is more qualified to join the wave of support than others. Quite the contrary, which applies to many other countries in the region, if not all of them.

Secondly, cryptocurrencies in their various activities were not originally legalized in Kuwait, and the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law has been in force since 2013 and can be used against any cryptocurrency user in Kuwait just by suspicion. This means that Kuwaiti users do not disclose their activities, and companies cannot provide services or benefit from cryptocurrency services in the absence of clear regulatory laws.

It seems that there was a great wave of optimism that hit everyone after the UAE adopted cryptocurrencies and regulated corporate activity. They are completely forgetting the nature of the economic and financial policy in the UAE based on openness and proceeding according to a clear vision for the UAE to become a center for modern technologies by 2030. Kuwait has nothing similar with UAE from all sides.

On the contrary, I expect that many countries will follow Kuwait in its decision and issue laws that clearly prohibit crypto based activities.

Well, that's one of the richest countries in the Middle East, and now they are out of the Bitcoin race which might not be that big of a problem for now but it will surely slow down the adoption process as a country with a lot of money and resources is not allowing their citizens to invest in Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, which is bad for the industry as there could a lot of money flowing if Kuwait had allowed their citizens to take part in the revolution.

However, Bitcoin still has a long way to go and I'm pretty sure that once the majority of countries make it legal and allow their people to invest in it, the countries which are now banning it will cancel or change their decisions and will lift the bans and restrictions on their citizens for using Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.

That's true, this isn't that important and plus we weren't getting like tens of billions of dollars from Kuwait as well, it is only bad for the citizens there who liked to use it, which would not be possible after this current situation but I agree that overall the bitcoin market wouldn't be phased about this at all.

Sure there could be some people who might, I would understand something like that but that doesn't mean that it will be too long neither, I believe it is going to be just regular people and I would not be able to think that it would be a bit of a weird situation. In the end we are talking about a situation where it is going to be getting a bit of tougher for people to move on when more nations bans it, so I hope that doesn't happen.

bitcoin banned with accusations of being used for money laundering is FUD which is heard quite often and is used as an excuse by countries that don't like and support bitcoin. I am very sure that this accusation was prompted by the central bank of Kuwait, which does not want their business to be disturbed by the existence of Bitcoin there, even so, citizens who want to invest in Bitcoin can still do it secretly and without the knowledge of their government, access is not difficult (can use a VPN or take advantage of the TOR network).

I don't know how much this will affect the crypto market. But according to my knowledge, the adoption rate of BTC or crypto is too low in Kuwait but p2p trading is high them according to statistics . But still, i don't think this news needs that much attention than others like ETFs etc.

There must be some big manipulation might go on there that has forced authorities to shut down all the activities directly related to Crypto. Like even the mining too. Because it is much easier to perform mining there but for those who are foreigners. not for locals. due to inflation difference.

Most times these act of banning are just done by the government in power to targeting a particular organization or group of individuals that are perceived enemies or opposition. They do this to frustrate themselves and keep them on watch list. I am not surprised if in the nearest future news emanates that the sole reasons why the ban was implemented was targeted at some certain person's for some reasons because the government are always at it.

Lastly, I think that nation has no significance when it comes Crypto and probably they have no major players or big names in the industry hence the reason the ban did not effect bitcoin price and not only that, Bitcoin of lately has hard a tough time with the market pressure and is gradually becoming resistant to external force and pressure trying to control or manipulate the market direction and price.

Banning crypto as an investment, mining would be a bad thing, they can't even accept the development of technology.
Not thinking about the right regulation so that technology can still develop.
Investment or trade is an option that can be chosen actually instead of having to ban everything.

They follow in the footsteps of China who even banned Bitcoin completely, but China still continues to develop their own.

Such extreme regulations will only provide debate and severely limit their people.
If mining is also banned, then existing miners are banned and even expelled from their own country.
But will they be able to detect who will be involved in crypto thoroughly?

The country that have got something around 4.5 million population doesn't make big impact on the market of bitcoin. In the 4.5 million how many would be involved into crypto business. These are out of fear that their currency value would drop and loss its importance. To agree the fear factor the government have described about money laundering and other activities as the reason for the ban. In the past many countries have taken the decision to ban and lifted the ban after year understanding the goodness and need. So, this ban were all temporary. People will find ways in the black market or move to the near country to use it.

It is only a negative news for the people that use BTC in Kuwait, the country is not really that popular in BTC adoption and i don't think that too many people out of over 4.3 million people living in Kuwait are using BTC. Surely this news shouldn't have any influence on the price of BTC, people aren't going to panic and sell because of this.
A decentralized crypto like BTC doesn't have a single point of failure, so it is difficult to ban it. Some governments may ban it and warn their citizens not to use it, but there is no way to completely stop people from bypassing your order and using it. I don't think 'important' countries are ever going to ban BTC, they will regulate it and also make money from tax on it.

Indeed, it took me by surprise. When I came across the news, I noticed that Bitcoin had not reacted as expected. Despite the negative news, there was no significant price drop, which left me astonished. I'm beginning to doubt whether a complete crypto ban is truly feasible. It appears that the authorities are primarily targeting organizations involved in crypto businesses rather than trying to ban decentralized cryptocurrencies outright. The fact is, banning decentralized cryptocurrencies is practically impossible. People will always find ways to utilize them, either through peer-to-peer exchanges or on the black market.

Every time I read bad news like this, I often feel sad, because apparently there are still a lot of negative issues related to Bitcoin in this world. And they have always assumed that Bitcoin only has more negative sides than positives. And issues related to money laundering, global crimes, and scams are the ones that are most often raised by parties who reject and ban cryptocurrency. This is really sad because it's not just Bitcoin that can be used for this crime. but unfortunately, it's always Bitcoin that is the highest accusation. From here, we learn a lot that there are still many parties who reject Bitcoin. But fortunately, not big countries are declaring it again because it will get even worse for Bitcoin's image later.

Well said mate, and I would take my country for an example, the government of my country or should I say the central bank governor of the federation actually ban the use of crypto with banks in the nation but like you said that didn't stop the masses from bitcoin adoption and seeing this again, it now came to a stage where the government had to make plans for the actual study of the technology that is behind crypto so that they can regulate and have financial benefits from it's use in the nation.source

Well, I see the ban as inconsequential as that would not stop the full scale adoption of bitcoin globally. I would not be surprise the Kuwaiti be doing bitcoin transaction secretly and there government knows nothing about it. Possibly they must have weighed the options they have at hand which is more favorable to them as every government does before implementation.

Bitcoin can do without Kuwait after all bitcoin never depended on any government approval before it became a global entity but rather government are now becoming dependent on bitcoin as a source of generating revenue for their nation. So who amongst the both needs each other for survival?

I get really saddened anytime I hear the ban of cryptocurrency by government of any country all for the claim of money laundering.

It would have been better if the government of Kuwait even made moves to regulate or tax everything that has to do with cryptocurrencies, using it as payment, trading or for investment and mining, so as to dissuade it being used for money laundering activities as they claim.
The country is one that I had always known which has good economy and with lowest unemployment rate worldwide, with also no personal income taxes for its citizens. Kuwait provides an attractive job market for expats. So if the government decides to ban crypto and all its related activities because of any claim, it's because the poverty level in the country is less.

Kuwait's crypto adoption might not be compared to other parts of the world like US and China but I believe there are individuals and businesses they are going to suffer as a result of this development. Kuwait is the cheapest country to mine Bitcoin, all the miners that have been taking advantage of the country's cheap electricity will have to pack up or go elsewhere. This is not good at all and I hope the government makes a u-turn very soon.

It looks like the current leader of Kuwait does not see Bitcoin as profitable asset by as tool being used for money laundering.  I believe they are stereotyping without considering the transparency of the Bitcoin blockchain where transactions can be seen.

I also think that this ban will be temporary and will be lifted when there is a change of leadership or they found out that Bitcoin will be beneficial for them.


I also think that they implement ban while studying the effect of Bitcoin in their country.  They wanted to be on the safer side since many scammer are using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency to scam people and possibly they wanted to prevent that before they have the full knowledge about BTC in their country.

Thus, Kuwait appears to be throwing us a curveball. Thats sad, especially considering what their pals are up to. But hey, each nation has its own rules, and weighing the potential benefits against the potential drawbacks can be a bit like walking a tightrope at times.

Its true that they're restricting crypto-to-crypto transactions; this is problematic. But that's not the end of cryptography in general. Keep in mind that there is no overarching authority in the world today. While it's regrettable that only one country participated, this doesn't spell the end of crypto or Bitcoin. It could make the train move more slowly, but it wouldn't stop it.

Consider, too, that they may be pausing in order to assess the situation and plan their next action strategically. The future is never guaranteed. Believe is essential.

This is not something new as most of governments are doing the same. My country (Pakistan) has already banned crypto and now going hard against anyone who is involved in cryptocurrency. It's also imperative to mention that governments are regulating cryptocurrency i.e. legalising the use of centralized cryptocurrency not the decentralized one. Governments have no objection on use of cryptocurrency if its fully under there control.