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Mohammedia – In November 2017, Morocco’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, Bank Al-Maghrib, and the Office des Changes released a joint statement declaring cryptocurrency transactions illegal.
The authorities warned that using bitcoin or other virtual currencies violated Morocco’s foreign exchange rules, left users without legal protection, and exposed them to risks such as fraud, money laundering, and financing of terrorism.
Bank Al-Maghrib’s governor at the time described bitcoin as a speculative asset, stressing that it lacked the stability, backing, and transparency needed to qualify as real money.
The Office des Changes reinforced this stance by stating that any transaction in virtual currency is an infraction under Moroccan law. Citizens found trading in crypto could face penalties for breaking exchange regulations.
Officially, this hard line positioned Morocco as one of the few countries in the region to impose an outright ban, reflecting the government’s concerns about volatility and criminal misuse.
Trading in the shadows
Despite the ban, cryptocurrency never disappeared from Morocco. Global reports consistently rank the country among the most active crypto adopters in the MENA region.
According to the Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Morocco was the 14th country worldwide for grassroots adoption. Even though the 2023 report showed Morocco dropping out of the top 20, it remained one of the region’s most active markets given the lack of legal frameworks.
Without licensed local exchanges, Moroccans often rely on peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms or international trading apps to buy and sell crypto. These underground methods allow users to bypass banking restrictions, but they also leave them vulnerable to scams or price manipulation.
A 2025 study by researcher Soukaina Abdallah-Ou-Moussa and her colleagues, titled ‘Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, and Decentralized Finance: A Case Study of Financial Inclusion in Morocco,’ found that Morocco’s 2017 cryptocurrency ban did not reduce public interest but instead pushed users toward informal and unregulated trading channels.
Crypto’s appeal has practical roots. Some Moroccans use bitcoin to send or receive money when traditional transfer services are too costly or slow. Others see it as a hedge against currency controls, especially since the dirham remains under a managed exchange rate system.
The absence of official statistics makes it impossible to measure the exact volume of these transactions, but the persistence of P2P activity highlights how prohibition has not curbed demand.
Toward new rules
In November 2024, Bank Al-Maghrib governor Abdellatif Jouahri confirmed that Morocco is preparing a draft law to regulate crypto-assets. He explained that the framework, developed with input from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, is meant to shift the country away from an outright ban toward controlled regulation.
The draft aims to provide legal definitions of crypto-assets, create licensing standards for service providers, and establish investor protections.
Jouahri also noted that the central bank is studying the potential introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
This digital dirham would operate under state control and serve as a complement to cash, offering a legal and secure alternative to decentralized cryptocurrencies. For regulators, this represents a chance to modernize Morocco’s financial system while keeping oversight intact.
The road ahead
The Moroccan case highlights a wider trend seen in countries with strict capital controls: banning crypto does not eliminate it. Users turn to informal markets, adoption grows quietly, and eventually regulators face pressure to adapt. For Morocco, the next step is not whether crypto exists, but how to manage it.
If the draft law is implemented, Morocco could move from being a country of prohibition to one of cautious regulation. Until then, bitcoin remains both a forbidden and flourishing presence, a paradox that defines Morocco’s uneasy relationship with digital money.
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