Seven Maps to Understand Bitcoin/Crypto Legality

Superorder.io
Superorder
Published in
4 min readOct 12, 2019

Hello there! Today, we have a bit unusual post. Instead of diving deep into the topic, telling amazing stories, and sharing our experience, we will just show you a few images. The topic of cryptocurrency legality is pretty large. It’s not a simple task to grasp the nuances at once, especially if you read about them. That’s why we will focus on visualization.

Note that images are taken from external sources that are mentioned in descriptions. Still, we at Superorder try to promote the crypto usefulness in our own way. Feel free to join us in this crusade!

A Short Foreword

From the very first days of Bitcoin, governments and banks discuss the nature of cryptocurrencies. Some world leaders admit that these assets are equal to fiat money. Others ban crypto totally. However, the most popular approach is to set a so-called grey zone in which cryptocurrencies are neither legal nor illegal. For traders, it’s important to know laws to use crypto according to them. The following images should help here.

Maps, Maps, and More Maps

While the topic of crypto legality if really large, we don’t want to talk about various opinions, pros, and cons. It’s up to each country whether to allow trading/investing/mining, keep it illegal or be neutral. But we want to show you some cool maps, no more. Data may differ because of different sources so compare and find the truth.

Map #1: World Opinions on BTC

This agency decided to position its research differently. Instead of shouting about real legality, it mentioned the world’s thoughts. However, the result is the same: we have a shiny map that shows how governments react to crypto/ICOs. The map is dated by 2018, too.

Map #2: Bitcoin Legality

In addition to a cool visual part, the site reveals interesting stats. In 2018, 99 countries (40% of the globe) treated Bitcoin as a legal or «grey» asset. 7 states (3%) had major restrictions while 10 countries (4%) had banned it completely. Others are «no info»…

Map #3: 2019 Edition

In 2019, the state of BTC legality changed but not greatly. Legal/unrestricted color is now applied to 48% of countries. 4% consider this asset as restricted and 3% prohibit it completely.

Map #4: 2018 G20 Summit

Let’s move to crypto at all, not only BTC. This image shows the results of the G20 summit held in 2018 in Argentina. As you can see, a lot of states are grey-colored, i.e. there are no official data on crypto regulation/legality. In 2019, the situation is pretty similar.

Map #5: Light-to-Tight Scale

The resource analyzed several bases and created this infographic. As mentioned in the description, the scale is based on the legality of exchanges/ICOs, admitting crypto as a legal tender, and planned measures on better crypto regulation.

Map #6: Absolute and Implicit Bans

The Library of Congress has a lot of valuable materials, including ones on our topic. For example, this map shows states that have banned crypto fully or partially. Most of them are located in the Middle East and Asia.

Map #7: Regulatory Framework

Also. the Library of Congress reveals which states have specific regulations. As you can see, Europe focuses on tax laws while AML/anti-terrorism ones aren’t the most popular. Still, developed countries like Canada and Australia feature both types of laws.

Useful Resources

If you want to read more about the legality of cryptocurrencies, feel free to conduct extra research.

For instance, you can start with a convenient Wiki article called «Legality of bitcoin by country or territory». However, the guide doesn’t cover all the countries and also focuses on BTC aspects only.

For more detailed info, proceed to the aforementioned Library of Congress. The site has an amazing database of worldwide crypto legality, including general summary, strong analysis, and visual content, too.

Yep, images from both sources are in this article. But there is far more info than we can cover. Nevertheless, if you think our post is useful (or at least entertaining), clap it and share with other traders. Let’s make the world more educated!

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