Table supporting article on LinkedIn

1. Country Position on
Bitcoins
Rationale
Bangladesh Illegal The Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh’s
central bank, has stated that bitcoins
are not legal tender issued by any
country, and that the use of bitcoins
and other cryptocurrencies is unlawful
under existing anti-money laundering
laws. The Bank also raised
apprehensions of violation of foreign
exchange control laws and possibility
of financial harm to people, in the
absence of a central approving
authority.18
Bolivia Illegal The Bolivian central bank has banned
cryptocurrencies, which are not issued
or regulated by the government.19
Ecuador Illegal Ecuador’s national assembly, while
banning bitcoin and decentralised
digital currencies, has proposed to
make its own digital currency.20
Iceland Illegal Foreign exchange trading with
electroniccurrency(bitcoin)isstatedto
be prohibited under Iceland’s foreign
exchange laws.21
Jordan Discouraged The Central Bank of Jordan issued a
circular warning the public that virtual
currenciesare not legaltender. Further,
banks, finance companies, payment
processors and currency exchangers
were prohibited from dealing in virtual
currencies.22
Russia Sought to be
regulated
The Ministryof Financeproposed a bill
with respect to money surrogates
including digital currencies such as
bitcoin, but this bill was withdrawn. In
2014, the Bank of Russia had issued a
statement on bitcoin, terming it a
money substitute that was banned in
Russia.
South Africa Discouraged After Standard Bank’s trial of bitcoin,
the South African Reserve Bank issued
a statement warning against the risks
posed by bitcoin, and statingthatit had
no legal status or regulatory
framework.23
Thailand Discouraged The Bank of Thailand issued a warning
that bitcoin is not a currency and has
associated risks.24
Vietnam Discouraged The Department of Electronic
Commerce and Information

2. Country Position on
Bitcoins
Rationale
Technology has issued a statement
warning against investing in, buying or
selling bitcoin. This was based on the
stand adopted by the State Bank of
Vietnam, that bitcoin and other virtual
currencies are not a legal form of
payment or settlement in the country.25