The Taliban Have Commenced Their Campaign Against the Use of Cryptocurrency in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, bitcoin dealers are coming under increasing pressure from the hardline Islamic group known as the Taliban. On Friday, the topic was discussed in the Bloomberg media.

A prominent Afghan police official named Sayed Shah Sa’adaat recently discussed the crackdown in a chat with Bloomberg News.

Since late December of the previous year, when the Taliban assumed control of the province on August 15, 2021, the Afghan economy has been in a downward spiral. The defeat of the Taliban has resulted in significant portions of the country falling even further into poverty.

As a result of the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, last year, the country’s traditional monetary system has been rendered inoperable, prompting Afghans to turn to the use of cryptocurrencies.

The Taliban are able to exert their authority over the police force. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban organization unveiled a new uniform for its national police force in June. They said that the move would lead to enhanced security in the war-torn nation of Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban’s return to power, they have relied on their widely feared insurgent security force to maintain law and order throughout the country. This decision has been made despite the persistent criticism that the absence of police uniforms and a lack of training for the men in the force encourages them to engage in illegal activities or abuse their power.

Since they made their return, the majority of bank branches have closed down, and those that are still open have reported seeing lengthy lines of clients wanting to withdraw cash.

Donations and payments from outside the country cannot be processed through the banking system at this time. Because of this, it is now a more viable alternative to send money directly to a person’s Bitcoin wallet rather than through a third party.

On the other hand, a year later, the authorities of the Taliban are already cracking down on the bitcoin market in the local area. The local Taliban police force has, as of yet, taken custody of 13 local crypto business owners and ordered the closure of their operations relating to cryptocurrencies.

According to Sa’adaat, the chief of the counter-crime unit of Herat police, more than 20 firms related to cryptocurrencies have been closed down in Herat, which is the third largest city in the country and where the majority of the country’s crypto brokerages are based.

Trading cryptocurrencies was reportedly made illegal in Afghanistan by the Central Bank of Afghanistan due to concerns that the practice would increase fraud.

“The order to halt all money changers, persons, and entrepreneurs from dealing fake digital currencies like what is widely referred to as Bitcoin was given to us by the central bank,” he claimed. “Bitcoin” is the name given to the cryptocurrency in question.

According to Saadat, the raid was a reaction to the fact that some Afghans were putting their money in cryptocurrencies in order to keep it hidden from the Taliban.

All forms of online currency transactions were made illegal in June by the Central Bank, which is controlled by the Taliban.

In February, the armed group made the announcement that they would be discussing the possibility of determining whether or not digital tokens may be tolerated under Islamic banking norms.

However, religious experts have long expected that the Taliban authorities would outlaw cryptocurrency because it has elements of gambling and uncertainty, both of which Muslims regard to be evil. This led to the experts’ prediction that the Taliban authorities would outlaw cryptocurrency.

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