The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has recently renewed its warning about all types of cryptocurrencies, citing a number of risks, including high volatility and use in financial crimes.
The CBE statement read, “In the same context, the Law of the Central Bank of Egypt and the Banking System promulgated by Law No. 194 of 2020 prohibits issuing, trading, or promoting cryptocurrencies, creating or operating platforms for trading it, or carrying out related activities.”
The CBE added, “Whoever violates this shall be imprisoned, and fined no less than one million pounds and no more than LE10 million [$516,340], or one of these two penalties.”
According to the CBE, crypto is not issued or backed by the central bank or any other official authority.
The Egyptian central bank issued a similar warning about cryptocurrencies in January 2018, stating that they are not issued by the Egyptian central bank or any official central issuing authority that can be held accountable.
The central bank further said, “Moreover, cryptocurrencies are not backed by any tangible assets and are not supervised by any regulators worldwide, and consequently, they lack the official governmental guarantee and support enjoyed by the other official currencies issued by central banks.”
Additionally, Egypt’s Dar El-Ifta, the Government’s principal Islamic institution for issuing fatwas (religious opinions), issued an edict declaring that all uses of cryptocurrency were ḥarām, or forbidden including purchasing, selling, and leasing.