General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; check the authorities in your country. Status 23 October 2026.
A few countries ban or restrict bitcoin. Most bans target businesses and banks, not the protocol.
How common?
A Library of Congress survey (November 2021) counted 9 jurisdictions with an absolute ban and 42 with implicit bans, for example forbidding banks to deal with crypto firms. Laws have changed since.
China
On 24 September 2021 the People's Bank of China and nine other agencies declared crypto-related business, such as exchange services and token issuance, illegal financial activity. Foreign exchanges serving mainland residents online were included. The same day, a separate notice ordered a phase-out of mining.
Nigeria
In February 2021 Nigeria's central bank told banks not to serve crypto firms. On 22 December 2023 it issued new guidelines letting banks open accounts for licensed providers, while banks still may not hold or trade crypto themselves.
Global standard-setters
The FATF asks each country either to license crypto providers or to ban them, and to enforce whichever it chooses.
Why the network survives
A ban can close exchanges and banks' doors. It cannot switch off thousands of nodes in other countries. After China's 2021 mining ban, the hashrate moved abroad and blocks kept coming. That resilience is exactly the problem Bitcoin was designed to solve: money that no single government can shut down.