First Country to Ban Crypto: Who Did It and What Happened After

When we talk about the first country to ban crypto, a nation that officially outlawed cryptocurrency use or trading. Also known as crypto prohibition, it’s not just a legal move—it’s a social and economic turning point for millions. That title belongs to Afghanistan, a country where Bitcoin became a lifeline after the Taliban took control in 2021. In 2022, the Taliban government declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal, calling them un-Islamic and a threat to financial control. But here’s the twist: while the ban was official on paper, Bitcoin and USDT kept flowing underground. For women, farmers, and families cut off from traditional banking, crypto wasn’t a luxury—it was survival.

Afghanistan wasn’t the first to try shutting crypto down, but it’s one of the clearest examples of how a ban can backfire. China’s crypto mining ban, a sweeping crackdown in 2021 that forced over 70% of global Bitcoin miners to flee, was bigger in scale but more about control than ideology. China didn’t ban holding crypto—it banned mining, trading on domestic exchanges, and banking relationships with crypto firms. The result? Miners scattered to Kazakhstan, Texas, and beyond, making the network more decentralized than ever. Meanwhile, in places like Iran, where the government tightly regulates crypto through state-approved platforms and surveillance, people still use it to bypass sanctions and send money home. The pattern? Banning crypto doesn’t kill it. It just pushes it into the shadows, where it becomes harder to track, regulate, and control.

What you’ll find below are real stories from the frontlines of crypto bans and crackdowns. From the failed attempt to shut down Bitcoin in Afghanistan to how Japan built one of the world’s strictest licensing systems, these posts show how governments react when money goes digital. You’ll see how scams like AXL INU and dead coins like SOCC thrive in regulatory gray zones, and how people in Nigeria, Iran, and Latin America navigate rules that change overnight. This isn’t about theory. It’s about what happens when power meets permissionless tech—and who gets left behind.