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Morocco will soon join the list of countries that have introduced a regulatory system to manage the cryptocurrency being circulated in the country.
The Central Bank of Morocco, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) is working on the design of the crypto regulation bill with consultation from a global financial institution.
What’s the Need for a Regulatory Authority to Oversee the Cryptocurrency Transactions?
Cryptocurrencies are a form of digital currency that are not regulated by any central or governmental authority. To protect the interests of investors and risk of investing in the crypto market, lately governments of different countries are working on legislations/bills to set up a watchdog for the same.
Recently, various countries introduced legislation safeguarding the crypto market including South Korea, Japan, England etc. South Korea is about to introduce its “self-regulatory” system encouraged by the latest dip in the value of LUNA and UST stable-coins. It targets to avoid a recurrence of such incidents.
Also, Japan has announced a stable-coin regulation bill to shield its citizens. It also makes it compulsory to link such digital currency to any legal tender like rupee, yen etc.
What is Morocco up to?
As per the news reports, the governor of the central bank of Morocco, Mr. Abdellatif Jouahri announced that the bank is all set to join the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for introducing appropriate legislation. IMF has been urging countries for a long time now to present crypto regulations and reduce the risks of legalizing assets like Bitcoin.
The governor pointed out that the country cannot adopt these cryptocurrencies due to lack of regulations on the national as well as international level. There is no framework to manage the cryptocurrency circulating in the country.
Morocco’s Regular Issues with Cryptocurrencies
This is not the very first instance. In 2017, Morocco banned Bitcoin trading in the country and made it illegal to engage in cryptocurrency transactions. This was due to the deficiency of consumer protection, high volatility and their use for illegal and unethical activities.
But in recent years, the asset started gaining importance. As per Triple-A, a Bruneian crypto payments company, 2.38 percent of the population of Morocco currently uses or owns cryptocurrencies. In a second analysis, the company highlighted that as of January 2022, Morocco ranked first in North Africa and 50th globally for crypto usage.
To conclude, due to the increasing investment and circulation of cryptocurrency around the globe, countries are planning on introducing the regulatory frameworks and necessary legislation to keep an eye on the same.
Morocco has also joined the list and will soon be out with its bill concerning the same. Also, with this, it will upgrade its money-laundering and anti-terrorism financing regulations.
