Kuwait’s financial watchdog, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), has officially banned all operations which involve cryptocurrencies, including mining, transactions and payments.

This move marks the latest regulatory crackdown on crypto, which in the case of Kuwait, meant the “absolute prohibition” on all major use cases and operations involving crypto and virtual assets.

The circular issued by the state of Kuwait on July 18th has also banned local regulators from issuing any licenses which enables firms to provide any virtual asset service as a commercial business.

However, the announcement notes that securities and other financial instruments overseen by the CMA and the Central Bank of Kuwait are excluded from the recent prohibitions.

Alongside the latest prohibitions, the CMA also requires customers in the nation to keep their eye out for any potential risks associated with virtual assets - particularly cryptocurrencies, arguing that they “don’t carry a legal status and are not issued or supported.”

On that matter, the CMA also added the following remark:

“It is not linked to any asset or issuer, and that the prices of these assets are always driven by speculation that exposes them to a sharp decline.”

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-kuwait-bans-crypto-and-virtual-assets-transactions

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/07/20/kuwait-regulator-bans-crypto-payments-investment-and-mining/

https://www.cma.gov.kw/en/web/cma/cma-board-releases/resolutions-and-regulations/-/cmaboardreleases/detail/1384960