Why Egypt And Morocco Can’t Ignore Crypto Anymore

Crypto has become an immovable force in today's global financial economy. Yet for years, the financial authorities in North Africa’s powerhouses, Egypt and Morocco, have maintained a cautious stance on cryptocurrencies that is as unified as it was prohibitive, though that stance is gradually shifting.

Both countries' positions are rooted in the classic fears of global regulators that cryptocurrency is too volatile, too opaque, and threatens financial stability, facilitating illicit money flows and undermining the sovereign authority of the national currency.

In Egypt, the Central Bank’s 2020 Banking Law cemented a strict ban, reinforced by a religious fatwā deeming crypto ḥarām (forbidden). Similarly, Morocco had outlawed crypto trading even earlier, in 2017, when the Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) warned that it violated foreign exchange rules.

But those top-down prohibitions have done little to stem the tide. Economic necessity and a digitally fluent youth population have already breached the floodgates. The laws may forbid crypto, but the market, quietly and persistently, has moved on.

The regulatory walls have not held because the fundamental economic drivers pushing citizens towards digital assets are too powerful to be suppressed by legislation alone.

The crucial transition now underway is not about whether these nations will engage with crypto, but how they will manage the economic consequences of having ignored it..

Crypto as a Survival Tool for the Digital Generation

The primary catalyst for crypto adoption across the region is profound economic insecurity and limited access to formal financial services. In both Egypt and Morocco, a large, digitally-savvy, and youthful population faces the twin pressures of high inflation and currency devaluation. The result is a natural, organic flight to cryptocurrencies, transforming them from a speculative novelty into an essential tool for wealth preservation and financial survival.