On July 24, 2025, Algeria didn’t just tighten its rules on cryptocurrency - it erased them entirely. With the passage of Law No. 25-10, the country made it illegal to own, trade, mine, promote, or even talk about Bitcoin and other digital assets. This isn’t a gray-area regulation. It’s a full criminal ban, enforced by police, courts, and banks working together. If you’re holding crypto in Algeria, you’re breaking the law. If you’ve ever posted about it online, you could be prosecuted. This isn’t theoretical - people are already being arrested.
What Exactly Is Banned?
Algeria’s law doesn’t just block exchanges or trading platforms. It targets every single layer of the crypto ecosystem. Under Article 6 bis, the following are all criminal offenses:
- Possessing any cryptocurrency, even if you never traded it
- Buying, selling, or transferring digital assets
- Mining Bitcoin or Ethereum using your computer or hardware
- Running or operating a crypto exchange or wallet service
- Advertising, promoting, or educating others about crypto - including YouTube creators, bloggers, or podcasters
- Using crypto to pay for goods or services
There’s no loophole. Even holding crypto in a private wallet counts as a violation. The law doesn’t care if you bought it before the ban or inherited it. If you have it now, you’re at risk. And it’s not just individuals - businesses that even mention crypto on their websites can be shut down. Influencers who once taught people how to use Binance now face the same penalties as drug traffickers.
How Harsh Are the Penalties?
The punishment is severe and designed to scare people away. Violators can face:
- Prison sentences from two months up to one year
- Fines between 200,000 and 1,000,000 Algerian dinars (roughly $1,540 to $7,700 USD)
These aren’t small fines. For many Algerians, that’s more than a year’s salary. And unlike fines in other countries, these are enforced aggressively. Authorities don’t just issue warnings - they arrest people. In the first six months after the law took effect, over 300 cases were filed across major cities like Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. Most involved individuals who held small amounts of Bitcoin or Ethereum, sometimes just a few hundred dollars’ worth.
What’s worse, the law allows authorities to seize any device used in crypto activity - phones, laptops, mining rigs - without a warrant. Your hardware can be confiscated, and you’ll have to go to court just to get it back, if you’re lucky.
Who’s Enforcing This?
Algeria didn’t leave enforcement to one agency. It built a multi-layered system to hunt down crypto users:
- Bank of Algeria monitors bank transactions for signs of crypto-related payments and freezes accounts linked to suspicious activity
- Banking Commission ensures no bank, payment processor, or fintech firm facilitates crypto transfers - even indirectly
- Security Authorities use digital surveillance to track crypto wallet addresses, IP logs, and social media posts promoting digital assets
- Judicial System prosecutes cases with fast-tracked hearings, often without bail
- Financial Intelligence Unit works with international partners to trace cross-border crypto flows
This isn’t random policing. It’s a coordinated state operation. Authorities have access to bank records, internet traffic data, and even social media analytics to identify violators. A simple Google search for “how to buy Bitcoin in Algeria” can now trigger an investigation if it leads to a local user’s profile.
Why Did Algeria Do This?
The government says it’s protecting the Algerian Dinar and preventing money laundering. Officials argue that crypto could be used by terrorist groups or criminals to move money without oversight. They point to guidance from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body that pushes countries to combat financial crime.
But the timing tells another story. Just a year before the ban, Algeria was one of the fastest-growing crypto markets in North Africa. Chainalysis reported that peer-to-peer trading volumes had surged 400% in 12 months. Young Algerians were using crypto to send money abroad, invest in DeFi, and bypass inflation that hit 12% in 2024. Many saw it as a way out of a stagnant economy.
The ban didn’t just stop trading - it crushed a generation of tech talent. Blockchain developers, crypto educators, and even freelance coders who built wallet apps suddenly became criminals. Universities stopped offering blockchain courses. Startups shut down overnight. The brain drain began: over 1,200 tech professionals left Algeria in the first six months after the ban, most moving to Tunisia, Egypt, or the UAE.
How Does This Compare to the Rest of the World?
While Algeria is locking down crypto, most of the world is doing the opposite. The European Union passed MiCA - a full regulatory framework that lets crypto firms operate legally under strict rules. The U.S. has dozens of licensed crypto exchanges. Even Nigeria, with its own economic challenges, allows crypto trading through regulated platforms.
Algeria’s approach is more like China’s 2021 ban - but even broader. China banned exchanges and mining but didn’t criminalize personal possession. Algeria does. China let people hold crypto privately. Algeria doesn’t. Algeria’s law is among the strictest in the world, comparable only to Egypt’s 2023 decree and North Korea’s state-controlled crypto operations.
Neighboring countries are moving in the opposite direction. The UAE has become a crypto hub, with Dubai offering licenses to blockchain firms. Bahrain has a national digital currency pilot. Algeria’s isolation is growing.
What Happens to Everyday People?
You don’t need to be a hacker or a trader to get caught. Here are real cases from 2025-2026:
- A university student in Algiers was arrested after posting a TikTok video explaining how to use a crypto wallet. He had never bought crypto - he was just trying to help others understand it.
- A small business owner in Oran was fined after a customer paid him 0.02 BTC for a service. He didn’t know it was illegal - he accepted it because he’d seen others do it.
- A mining operation using solar panels and subsidized electricity was raided. Six people were jailed. Their equipment was melted down and sold as scrap.
- A woman in Constantine inherited $3,000 worth of Ethereum from a relative abroad. She didn’t sell it - she just kept it. She was charged with illegal possession.
These aren’t outliers. They’re standard cases. The law doesn’t distinguish between intent, scale, or knowledge. If you touched crypto, you’re guilty.
What’s the Long-Term Impact?
Algeria’s ban isn’t just about money - it’s about control. The government wants to keep its financial system closed, centralized, and completely under state authority. It fears losing power to decentralized networks. But the cost is high.
Algeria’s tech sector is collapsing. Venture capital has vanished. Foreign investors avoid the country. Young people who once dreamed of building blockchain apps now study engineering abroad, knowing they can’t work in their field at home.
The ban hasn’t stopped crypto use - it’s driven it underground. Black-market exchanges now operate through encrypted apps and Telegram channels. People use cash to buy crypto from smugglers. The risks are higher, the prices are inflated, and the dangers are real. But people still want access to global finance.
Algeria’s stance may look strong today. But history shows that bans like this rarely last. When people can’t access tools they need, they find ways around them - often at greater cost. The real question isn’t whether Algeria can enforce the ban. It’s whether it can afford the consequences.