Cryptocurrency in Morocco: an eight-year ban and Bill 42.25
In short. Morocco banned crypto transactions in 2017 and Moroccans went on trading anyway, which is the reason the central bank now wants a law. Three authorities declared the activity a breach of exchange regulations that year, punishable by fines. In November 2025 the government published Bill 42.25 to regulate digital assets, and in July 2026 the central bank said the work continues. The ban holds until the new text takes effect.
- STATUS
- Banned since 2017as a breach of exchange regulations
- DRAFT LAW
- Bill 42.25published November 2025, under review
- REGULATORS NAMED
- Central bank and AMMCplus the finance ministry
- PENALTIES
- Finesunder the exchange regulations
- DATE OF EFFECT
- None announcedofficials point to 2026 at the earliest
- LEGAL TENDER
- Nothe dirham stays the only legal money
What the 2017 ban rests on
The exchange office, the central bank and the capital market authority issued a joint position in 2017: transactions in virtual currencies breach Morocco's exchange regulations and carry the penalties those regulations set.
The instrument matters. Morocco reached for a foreign exchange regime written decades before anyone had heard of bitcoin, and applied it to an asset that regime never anticipated. Tunisia and Algeria built their prohibitions the same way, out of exchange law rather than out of a statute aimed at crypto.
Enforcement has been light and the market has grown regardless. Moroccans have used peer-to-peer channels and foreign platforms throughout, and the central bank now describes the result as an underground market it wants to bring into view.
Bill 42.25
The government published Bill 42.25 in November 2025, prepared with the central bank and the capital market authority.
The bill sets out a framework for digital assets and the providers who serve them, which would replace an eight-year prohibition with a licensing regime. In July 2026 the central bank confirmed that work on the text has continued since 2025, with coordination running between the finance ministry, the central bank and the market authority.
Nobody has announced a date. Officials have said the law could take effect as early as 2026, and that depends on the remaining legislative steps and on implementing regulations that have to follow the law itself.
Why the central bank wants it
Morocco has watched a substantial retail market develop outside any supervision, without consumer protection, without reporting, and without the anti-money-laundering controls regional bodies expect.
The central bank has built its case for the bill around that gap. Officials talk about seeing the market rather than about the merits of digital assets, and the pitch for passing the law is a supervisory one.
What this means if you are moving there
Morocco is trying to close the distance between its rules and its market by legalising the market, and it has not got there yet.
Buying and selling crypto still breaches the exchange regulations and still carries the penalties they set, whatever your neighbours are doing. Anyone considering a business here should read Bill 42.25 and then wait, because the framework it creates will not exist until the law passes and the implementing rules follow. Treat 2026 as the earliest plausible date rather than a scheduled one.
Allowed
- Hold dirhams, the only money with legal tender status here
- Read Bill 42.25, which sets out the framework Morocco intends to adopt
- Follow the central bank and the market authority, which are drafting together
- Build a licensing plan against that draft, ahead of a regime that does not exist yet
Restricted
- Transacting in virtual currencies, which breaches the exchange regulations
- Assuming light enforcement means legality, since the 2017 position stands
- Treating Bill 42.25 as being in force, since it remains under review
- Expecting a start date, which no official has announced
How the rules took shape
The exchange office, the central bank and the capital market authority declare crypto transactions a breach of exchange regulations.
The market grows through peer-to-peer channels and foreign platforms while the prohibition stays on the books.
The government publishes Bill 42.25, drafted with the central bank and the capital market authority.
The central bank confirms the work continues, with the finance ministry and the market authority coordinating.
Passage of the bill, then the implementing regulations that would make a licensing regime real.
Worth knowing
The 2017 ban did not hold: the number of crypto owners grew from 3.65 to 6 million, roughly one resident in six. That figure is what pushed the authorities to draft a law.
Common questions
Is crypto legal in Morocco?
No. Transactions in virtual currencies have breached the exchange regulations since the joint position of 2017, and that position still stands.
What penalties apply?
Those set by the exchange regulations, which is where the prohibition comes from rather than from a dedicated criminal law.
What is Bill 42.25?
A draft law published in November 2025, prepared with the central bank and the capital market authority, that would create a framework for digital assets and the providers who serve them.
When would it take effect?
Nobody has announced a date. Officials have pointed to 2026 as the earliest possibility, subject to the remaining legislative steps and implementing regulations.
Why is Morocco changing course?
The central bank has described a large market operating outside supervision, without consumer protection or reporting, and wants it inside a regime it can see.
Sources
Other countries
Updated 21.08.2026 · this is reference material, not investment or tax advice