Kuwait Finance Ministry does not recognize Bitcoin

Unspecified sources in the local government have lately made it clear to the regional press that Kuwait would not officially recognize cryptocurrency. This, however, does not mean they chose full prohibition: for example, cryptocurrency trades are usually conducted through the Internet, and the Internet is regulated by the local laws on “e-programs”. And while Ministry of Commerce and Industry is tasked to inform the internal market about risks posed by cryptocurrency, the governmental sources say that while they prefer to distance from regulating Bitcoin, they will not ignore the flows of “unclean” money often coming through this financial gateway.

Meanwhile in the neighbouring UAE, the local central bank declares Bitcoin is not forbidden for use in the Arab Emirates. There was a bit of confusion when together with this statement, a framework mentioning illegal virtual currencies was released, but the bank quickly found out about this divergence and specified that they were not meaning digital currencies.

The Middle East, contrary to stereotypes about its conservatism, is not at all conservative when it comes to finance. The latest demonstration of this is the news about the joint initiative by Saudi Arabia and the UAE to develop official cryptocurrency for international economic cooperation.