Middle Eastern Country Has Officially Banned Crypto Investments

The Capital Markets Authority of a petroleum-based economy in the Middle East has recently released a new circular to restrict cryptocurrency activities within the country.

The ban, issued on Monday, forbids the use of crypto assets as a method of payment and investment. Additionally, digital coins cannot be considered a decentralized currency, and businesses cannot offer crypto-related services.

“It is prohibited to issue or grant any natural or legal person within the State of Kuwait a license to provide virtual asset services as a commercial business for him or on behalf of others (in addition to the fact that no licenses have been issued in this regard before),” according to the notes as per the online publication the Daily Hodl.

In Kuwait, all crypto-mining activities are prohibited for its 4.45 million residents.

However, securities regulated by the Central Bank of Kuwait and other securities and financial instruments regulated by the Capital Markets Authority are exempted from this prohibition.

The regulator has stated that this ban is in line with the nation’s efforts to implement the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing using cryptocurrencies.

A recent article by Bloomberg reports that Representative Glenn Thompson, a Republican from Pennsylvania, plans to introduce a new cryptocurrency-related legislation following the Ripple lawsuit verdict.

Thompson is optimistic that his proposed bill will receive support, given the court’s decision that Ripple did not violate securities laws when selling XRP on the open market.

The US District Judge, Analisa Torres, contradicted the SEC’s claims that most tokens offered to retail investors are unregistered securities.

Torres ruled that XRP tokens are only considered securities when sold directly to institutional investors through written agreements, and not when offered on exchanges.

Thompson believes that the recent court ruling brings clarity to the treatment of crypto assets and advocates for new legislation that will specify when these assets should be regulated as securities or commodities.