Algeria Criminalizes All Cryptocurrency Activity Under Sweeping New Law

Algeria has enacted Law No. 25-10, a landmark piece of legislation that moves the country from a loosely defined ban on digital assets to a full criminalization of all cryptocurrency activity. The law explicitly forbids holding, trading, mining, storing, or promoting cryptocurrencies, and extends to operating exchanges or wallet services, whether online or in person, within Algeria or via offshore channels accessible to Algerian residents.

From an anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standpoint, the move represents a fundamental reclassification. Digital assets are now deemed financial property, income, or funds, placing them directly within Algeria’s AML framework. This change does more than discourage cryptocurrency use — it embeds it within the legal structures targeting money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, and illicit capital flight.

Compliance officers face a new reality in which any sign of cryptocurrency involvement, direct or indirect, must be flagged as suspicious. Traditional customer due diligence will now require added layers of screening to detect crypto-related indicators, even when clients claim non-financial purposes such as education or software testing. Financial institutions will have to implement escalation processes for cases where crypto references appear in customer communications, transfers, or external dealings.

In aligning with some of the world’s more conservative regulatory regimes, Algeria has gone further by shutting down all operational avenues for digital assets. While other jurisdictions regulate exchanges and enforce KYC standards, Algeria has replaced regulatory oversight with a blanket criminal prohibition, treating all crypto use as illicit by default.

The law’s reach is broad, criminalizing issuance, purchase, sale, possession, promotion, and mining of cryptocurrency, as well as any services enabling crypto transactions — from hosting blockchain nodes to operating payment gateways linked to digital assets. Even a blog containing affiliate links to foreign exchanges could fall under the ban, as could a software developer building blockchain-based tools accessible from Algeria.

Penalties range from two months to one year in prison and fines of 200,000 to 1,000,000 Algerian dinars (about USD 1,540–7,700). In aggravated cases involving organized groups, large sums, or links to money laundering or other financial crimes, courts may impose both prison sentences and the maximum fine. The text leaves little ambiguity: by criminalizing promotion and facilitation, it covers individuals who may never have held cryptocurrency but have interacted with its ecosystem indirectly. Educational events, online content, or even certain social media commentary could, in context, be treated as promotion.

From a compliance perspective, the law’s breadth demands conservative interpretation of client behavior. Banks, fintechs, and regulated non-financial businesses will need to scrutinize not only financial transactions but also marketing materials, partnerships, and third-party affiliations to ensure they do not inadvertently enable crypto engagement.

The penalty structure could push enforcement bodies toward prioritizing fines over prison sentences, applying them broadly and frequently — a dynamic that may require companies to budget for the risk of significant financial penalties as part of operational planning.

Enforcing such a sweeping prohibition will require coordinated action between the Bank of Algeria, Ministry of Finance, Financial Intelligence Unit, telecom regulators, and law enforcement. Authorities may employ network monitoring tools to detect access to exchanges, blockchain explorers, and wallet interfaces, with VPN usage expected to be a particular focus. Algerians attempting to bypass geo-blocks to reach foreign platforms could be identified through traffic analysis, a tactic that raises both privacy and cybersecurity questions.

For institutions, indirect involvement is as much a risk as direct transactions. For example, incoming wire transfers from crypto-friendly jurisdictions that match exchange payout patterns could require suspicious transaction reporting. Decentralized finance and peer-to-peer systems pose additional challenges, with no central intermediaries and the use of mixers, privacy coins, or cross-chain bridges making beneficial ownership hard to trace.

The absence of transitional provisions or amnesty compounds the issue. Individuals already holding cryptocurrency have no legal channel to liquidate assets domestically, forcing a choice between self-incrimination or silent retention. This stands in contrast to gradual regulatory introductions in other nations, which often include compliance grace periods.

The ban’s impact will ripple into Algeria’s fintech sector and digital innovation landscape. Blockchain applications beyond cryptocurrency — such as supply chain management, identity verification, and secure voting — may be stifled, since many require token use even in test environments. Financial inclusion could also suffer, particularly in rural areas where banking access is limited and crypto has sometimes provided alternatives for remittances, micro-payments, and inflation hedging.

The policy could accelerate talent flight, with developers, entrepreneurs, and compliance specialists seeking friendlier jurisdictions. And rather than eliminating crypto activity, it may drive it underground, making oversight even harder. In such a scenario, a measure designed to fight illicit finance could unintentionally increase its opacity.

Algeria’s stance is unambiguous: eradicate the crypto sector entirely to safeguard financial stability and AML/CFT compliance. The result is one of the strictest regimes in the world, leaving no room for controlled experimentation or compliant adoption. The immediate effect is a compliance environment where “any crypto signal, however faint, must be treated as a red flag,” forcing financial institutions to invest in detection systems, training, and updated procedures.

Beyond compliance, the move signals to global investors that Algeria prioritizes capital flow control over digital economy growth. Whether the approach will succeed in curbing illicit finance — or instead nurture a more elusive underground market — will depend on enforcement capabilities and public acceptance of the ban’s necessity.

By fLEXI tEAM