Cryptocurrency provider and aggregator Triple A says that almost 1 million people, or roughly 2.4% of Morocco’s population, currently own cryptocurrency, according to a Cointelegraph report Tuesday (Jan. 11).
The data shows that Morocco is the top country in North Africa in terms of crypto trading, and also in the top 50 holders of cryptocurrency population percentage, ahead of Portugal.
That said, there’s been no change in crypto laws for years — according to Morocco’s Foreign Exchange Office, it won’t be supporting a hidden payment system “that is not backed by any financial institution.”
The country banned crypto trading and bitcoin since 2017, but that hasn’t stopped adoption, as Moroccan crypto enthusiasts have been breaking the rules.
The report says the Egyptian pound has been gaining on the Moroccan Dirham for bitcoin trades, with Egypt being $20,000 short of catching up with Morocco as of the report.
Egypt still does not allow trading crypto. That said, if even some of the population engages in that activity, it could move the needle.
In Morocco, Harmattan Energy has been set to build one of the biggest African wind farms, with a 900MW giant set in Dakla in the Saharan region, to power blockchain computing.
Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, pulled out of Singapore’s Binance Asia Services affiliate in December. There won’t be any more deposits or new customers taken, and clients will have until Feb. 22 to deactivate their accounts.
See also: Exiting Singapore, Embattled Crypto Exchange Binance Retreats Again
Binance Singapore had been working under a temporary exemption as it applied for a license. Now, it has applied to withdraw the license.
CEO Changpeng Zhao said on Twitter that the company had “made a sizable investment into regulated exchange HGX last week. This investment made our own application somewhat redundant.”
Binance, until recently, had been considering Singapore as a place for a global headquarters, which it’s never really been able to claim. Zhao had previously said this was unnecessary, but as of Aug. 20 last year, that changed and the company wanted to get more regulatory compliance.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More