Add Qatar To The Countries That Have Banned Cryptos…

Farai Mudzingwa

If you thought the dawn of a new year would mean less animosity from governments towards cryptos, think again. Qatar has become the latest country to ban crypto trading.

Qatar’s financial regulator – QFC (Qatar Financial Centre)- blocked trading of all crypto asset services:

Virtual Asset Services may not be conducted in or from the QFC at this time.

QFC

More specifically the ban is said to include “anything of value that acts as a substitute for currency, that can be digitally traded or transferred and can be used for payment or investment purposes.”

Banned activities include:

  • exchange between virtual assets and fiat currencies;
  • exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets;
  • transfer of virtual assets;
  • safekeeping and/or administration of virtual assets or instruments enabling control over virtual assets;
  • and participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer and/or sale of a virtual asset

All of the above basically point to fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto trading, custody, and financial services related to virtual assets – all the current use cases of cryptocurrencies at the moment.

Back in 2018, the Central Bank of Qatar had banned Bitcoin because of its volatility so whilst this subsequent ban comes a while after the ban of Bitcoin, it doesn’t represent a shift in Qatari regulators attitude towards cryptocurrency.

4 comments

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  1. The Principal

    Maybe you need also to highlight the advantages (if any) of cryptos over ordinary currencies.
    What benefits can an ordinary trader get from cryptos that isn’t offered by ordinary currencies?
    Why would I invest in cryptos and not stock exchanges?

    Reply
    1. Farai Mudzingwa

      Cryptocurrencies can be immune to inflation since the number of units of a Crypto can be defined at it’s inception i.e no printing whenever a government decides. (That has pros and cons)

      Easier to conduct cross border payments (also has it’s pros and cons. A positive would be – making international payments is much easier but on the other hand funding illegal activities is also easier)

      The transaction fees on cryptos have been much more favorable compared to what we pay to transact on debit/credit cards.

      There are some advantages but as with everything it’s not all rosy. There are disadvantages as well and one of the biggest ones has been getting people to understand how the currencies work in the first place

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        To be fair I don’t think that’s where the issue is with crypto currencies. From my perspective the proposed advantages of crypto currency can only be realized when you can readily trade with it with other people regardless of who they are and were they come from. The obstacle in front of us here is the steep cost to covert what money you have into crypto currency, it cost thousands of US Dollars to buy any decent crypto currency. On top of which you need another person on the same platform to trade with otherwise you now need to convert the currency to be able to use it.

        Reply
        1. Farai Mudzingwa

          I agree with your point but my comment was in reply to The Principal’s question of whether cryptocurrencies can offer ANY advantage over ordinary currency

          Reply

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