Afghanistan's Crypto Ban After the Taliban Takeover: What Happened and Why It Still Matters

When the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, few expected Afghanistan to become one of the world’s most unexpected crypto hotspots. Within months, digital currencies like Bitcoin and USDT were being used by ordinary Afghans to buy food, send money to family, and survive economic collapse. Then, less than a year later, the government banned it all - completely. By August 2022, trading, mining, and even holding cryptocurrency became illegal under Sharia law. The ban wasn’t just a policy change. It was a shockwave that ripped through the lives of millions who had turned to crypto as their only lifeline.

Why Did Afghans Turn to Crypto in the First Place?

Before the Taliban took over, Afghanistan’s financial system was already fragile. The country had no strong banking infrastructure. Only about 20% of adults had bank accounts. When international aid dried up and foreign reserves were frozen after the government fell, the economy collapsed overnight. Salaries stopped. Prices soared. The Afghan afghani lost more than half its value in a year.

That’s when people started looking for alternatives. Crypto didn’t need banks. It didn’t need ID cards. It didn’t need government approval. All you needed was a phone and internet - even if it was slow or spotty. In 2021, Afghanistan ranked 20th globally in crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis. That’s higher than Germany, France, and Japan. People used peer-to-peer apps like LocalBitcoins and Paxful to trade Bitcoin for cash. Others used USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, to protect their savings from hyperinflation.

For women, crypto became even more critical. Under Taliban rule, women were banned from universities, barred from most jobs, and stripped of legal rights. Many couldn’t open bank accounts even before the takeover. But crypto? It was anonymous. It didn’t require a male guardian’s permission. A woman could receive money from abroad, store it in a wallet, and use it without anyone knowing. Roya Mahboob, a tech entrepreneur and women’s rights advocate, told human rights groups that Bitcoin gave women a sense of control - something they’d been denied for generations.

The Ban: Religious Justification and Immediate Impact

On August 1, 2022, the Taliban’s Ministry of Economy issued a decree: all cryptocurrency activities were banned. The reason? It was declared haram - forbidden under Islamic law. Officials claimed crypto had no real value, was speculative like gambling, and lacked government backing. They didn’t mention the humanitarian crisis. They didn’t talk about inflation. They didn’t say a word about the millions who relied on it to feed their families.

The ban was absolute. Exchanges were shut down. Miners were ordered to stop. Anyone caught trading crypto faced arrest. Within weeks, monthly crypto transactions in Afghanistan dropped from over $10 million to just $80,000. The numbers didn’t lie - the ban worked, at least on paper.

But here’s the catch: people still needed money. And crypto was still the only tool that worked. So they kept trading - quietly.

Underground Crypto: The Ban That Couldn’t Stick

The Taliban can shut down exchanges. They can arrest traders. But they can’t shut down the internet. They can’t stop someone from sending a Bitcoin transaction from a hidden phone in a basement. They can’t control every WhatsApp group where people trade USDT for cash.

Today, in 2025, crypto is still illegal in Afghanistan. But it’s also still alive - in the shadows. Peer-to-peer networks have become the new banking system. Traders meet in parks, in cafes, in private homes. Payments are made in cash, with QR codes scanned on phones. Bitcoin and USDT remain the most popular. Why? Because they’re the only things that hold value when the local currency is worthless.

Enforcement is inconsistent. The Taliban don’t have the resources to monitor every transaction. They can’t track every wallet. And they can’t stop people from using crypto when they’re starving. A 2024 report from the United Nations found that 97% of Afghans were living below the poverty line. Food is available - but no one can afford it. Crypto fills that gap.

Even high-speed internet restrictions, introduced in 2023 to limit access, haven’t stopped the flow. People use public Wi-Fi, shared phones, and even offline wallet apps that store transactions until they can connect to the network. Crypto isn’t a luxury anymore. It’s survival.

A Global Outlier in a World Moving On

Afghanistan is now one of only nine countries in the world that still outright bans Bitcoin. The rest? They’ve changed course. Morocco lifted its ban in 2024. Nigeria, once hostile, now regulates crypto. Even China, which cracked down hard in 2021, now allows blockchain development and is testing its own digital currency.

Afghanistan’s stance is an outlier. And it’s getting lonelier. Experts agree: global trends are moving toward regulation, not prohibition. Governments don’t want to ban crypto. They want to control it - tax it, track it, integrate it. Afghanistan is the only country still trying to erase it.

The irony? The Taliban’s ban has made crypto even more valuable to ordinary people. It’s not just money. It’s autonomy. It’s privacy. It’s a way to bypass a system that refuses to help them.

The Human Cost of a Ban

Behind every transaction, every wallet, every hidden trade is a person trying to survive.

A mother in Herat uses USDT to receive money from her brother in Turkey. She exchanges it for cash in a back alley. She buys flour, rice, and medicine for her children.

A student in Kandahar, barred from university, uses Bitcoin to earn small freelance jobs online. She pays for internet time with cash, then sends her earnings back to her family.

A woman in Kabul, unable to work legally, runs a small crypto exchange from her home. She’s not a criminal. She’s a provider. If the Taliban catch her, she could be jailed. But if she stops, her family starves.

This isn’t about ideology. It’s about desperation. And no law can erase that.

What Does the Future Hold?

Will the Taliban ever lift the ban? Unlikely - at least not soon. Their authority rests on control. Crypto is the opposite of control. It’s decentralized. It’s anonymous. It’s outside their reach.

But the people? They’re adapting. They’re building networks. They’re teaching each other how to use wallets, how to stay safe, how to avoid detection. Women’s groups, diaspora communities, and NGOs are quietly supporting these efforts. The Human Rights Foundation and Digital Citizen Fund have trained hundreds of Afghan women in crypto basics - not as a political statement, but as a survival skill.

The ban may be official. But the reality on the ground? Crypto is still running. It’s not thriving. It’s not growing. But it’s still there. And as long as the economy stays broken and the people stay hungry, it will stay.

Afghanistan’s crypto story isn’t about regulation. It’s about resilience. It’s about what happens when a government tries to take away the only thing that keeps its people alive - and fails.