(Kitco News) -
Morocco’s Central Bank, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), has announced that the country’s crypto regulatory framework could be introduced “in the following days.”.
BAM Governor Abdellatif Jouahiri told journalists at a press conference following the central bank’s annual meeting that the crypto draft bill is finished.
“For cryptocurrencies, I can assure you that the project is ready,” Jouahiri told local journalists. “We worked with the World Bank and the consultant to make it happen. The different chapters are completed. Now we are engaged in the discussion with the different stakeholders. It is long, but necessary to allow everyone to adhere to this project.”
Jouahiri said the legislation includes a definition of cryptocurrency “adapted to the Moroccan context” and aims to protect citizens from risks associated with crypto without constraining opportunities for innovation.
Crypto has been illegal in Morocco since 2017, but the country still ranked number one in North Africa in 2022 with 3.1% of the population representing over 1.1 million people holding cryptocurrencies according to a report by Dataportal.
The central bank announced the start of work on the crypto regulation draft in June of 2022. In July, the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis (MIPA) wrote in an analysis that Morocco was adopting a “wait and see” approach to digital assets and that the government was worried about the threats crypto posed to the country’s economic and monetary sovereignty.
