Taliban releases detained crypto businessmen

Arrested by the Afghan authorities two weeks ago, 16 heads of local trading floors and exchangers were released.

All businessmen were ordered to stop operations related to cryptocurrencies, the director of one of the Afghan crypto exchanges said. He added that executives received no prior warning and had no idea that the Taliban had banned crypto assets.

“They arrested us to say that we cannot continue our activities,” he said.

Rumors that the Taliban confiscated assets that were on closed trading floors are not true, the director of one of the exchanges said. Meanwhile, the Taliban banned cryptocurrencies three months ago. Head of Crime Squad of Herat Police Syed Shah Sa’adat
declaredthat the Central Bank of Afghanistan (DAB) called for limiting the use of cryptocurrencies:

“Digital currency trading has caused a lot of problems and is a scam, so exchanges should be closed. We detained all the owners of the exchangers involved in this business and closed their sites.”

However, the head offices of four cryptocurrency exchanges in Herat have resumed their work. In other provinces of Afghanistan, trading platforms also continued to operate, one of the employees of the crypto exchange in Kabul admitted.

Last week, the Taliban arrested representatives of 16 cryptocurrency exchanges and exchange offices. This has dealt a blow to both businesses and citizens of the country, as Afghan residents left without banking services due to US sanctions are forced to purchase cryptocurrency for trading and lending operations.