Cryptocurrency Regulation: What’s Banned, Allowed, and Who’s Watching
When you hear cryptocurrency regulation, the rules governments set to control how digital money is used, traded, and taxed, it’s easy to think it’s all about stopping scams. But it’s more than that. It’s about who gets to run exchanges, how taxes are collected, and whether your country lets you mine Bitcoin using public electricity. VASP, a licensed entity that handles crypto transactions for customers is the new gatekeeper in places like Argentina, Nigeria, and Taiwan—banks can’t touch crypto, so you need a VASP to move money in or out. And if you earn staking rewards? In the U.S., the IRS, the U.S. tax authority that treats crypto rewards as taxable income when received says you owe taxes the moment you get them, not when you sell. That’s not a loophole—it’s the rule.
Countries aren’t just making rules—they’re making choices. Pakistan gave crypto miners 2,000 MW of free power, betting that cheap energy will bring in billions. Meanwhile, Russia kicked out unlicensed exchanges like Garantex and Grinex but let its own platforms keep running. Thailand says you won’t pay tax on crypto gains until 2029, but only if you trade on licensed sites. And in Nigeria? Businesses can’t accept crypto directly—they have to convert it to Naira first, through a VASP. These aren’t random policies. They’re reactions to inflation, capital flight, energy surpluses, and pressure from global institutions like the IMF. Even blockchain voting, which Estonia and Switzerland have tested, falls under this umbrella—because if you’re using crypto to vote, someone has to decide if that’s legal, secure, and who’s accountable when it breaks.
What you’ll find below isn’t a list of laws—it’s a collection of real stories from real places. You’ll see which exchanges got shut down, why some countries tax staking twice, how airdrops get tangled in legal gray zones, and what happens when a government decides crypto is too risky for banks. No fluff. No theory. Just what’s actually happening on the ground, from Moscow to Manila, from Pakistan’s power grids to Taiwan’s banking bans. This is cryptocurrency regulation—not as a policy paper, but as a lived reality.