Morocco to Regulate Crypto After 16% Adoption and Scrutiny

Morocco plans to replace a decade-old ban on cryptocurrency transactions with a licensing and regulatory framework after roughly 16% of the population-more than 6 million people-adopted digital assets and authorities increased scrutiny of foreign crypto holdings and transfers.

The formal ban has been in place since late 2017. At that time regulators cited breaches of existing rules, lack of consumer protection, money-laundering risks, capital flight and threats to monetary stability as reasons for prohibiting transactions with digital assets.

Since the end of 2024, Bank Al-Maghrib, the Foreign Exchange Office and the Moroccan Capital Market Authority have tightened monitoring of crypto-related financial flows. The Foreign Exchange Office sent letters to a number of residents saying it had identified violations tied to holding crypto assets abroad and transfers into Morocco. Recipients were given one month to provide explanations and supporting documents and were reminded that digital-asset transactions must be declared and comply with exchange controls.

Crypto ownership in Morocco nearly doubled between 2019 and early 2025, rising from about 3.65 million holders to more than 6 million. Analysts point to remittances from the Moroccan diaspora, demand for lower-cost cross-border payments and the search for alternatives within a largely informal domestic economy as factors behind the increase.

Rabat has drafted a bill that would recognize certain digital assets as financial instruments and create a licensing regime for service providers such as exchanges and custodians. Under the proposed framework, providers would operate under supervision and be subject to rules designed to curb money laundering, strengthen consumer protections and maintain exchange-control oversight.

The draft law was prepared on the initiative of the monetary authority and is being finalized by relevant institutions. It draws on international standards including the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets rules and recommendations from international bodies such as the G20.

Bank Al-Maghrib Governor Abdellatif Jouahri described the new rules as intended to remove legal uncertainty and bring crypto activities under the supervision of financial authorities.

The Foreign Exchange Office correspondence indicates regulators will enforce existing exchange-control requirements while the legislative process continues. Algeria imposed a comprehensive ban on crypto transactions last year.