The bill, which should be introduced in the coming days, will legally define crypto in Morocco in the burgeoning market.
First law on cryptocurrencies
Morocco’s first crypto law may be introduced “in the coming days”. The document was written by the Central Bank and will be discussed with industry stakeholders.
On January 3, the governor of the Central Bank of Morocco, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), Abdellatif Jouahiri, announced a series of talks between the BAM and market participants.
Regulators, such as the Moroccan Capital Markets Authority (AMMC), the Insurance Supervisory Authority and Social Security (ACAPS), will also participate. It precedes the introduction of the crypto law.
According to Jouahiri, the BAM worked with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank while working on the document. Previous reports claim that Moroccan officials have also contacted the central banks of France, Sweden and Switzerland to study their regulatory experience with digital assets.
The draft will provide a definition of crypto “adapted to the Moroccan context” and will aim to protect individuals without limiting innovation. While details of the bill were not disclosed, it could hardly be more restrictive than current legislation. This bans crypto trading completely.
In 2022, Morocco became the fastest growing crypto market in North Africa. In 2021, 2.4% of the population had digital assets, rising to 3.1% a year later.
Soluna deployed the first blockchain-powered wind farm in Dakhla in 2021. This is the southern and windiest district of Morocco. The energy surplus of this park powers the crypto mining activities.
A recent report from Chainalysis shows that the crypto market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the fastest growing in the world. The transaction volume in the MENA region shows that users received $566 billion worth of crypto in the period from July 2021 to June 2022. This is 48% more than the previous year.