A statement came out last Sunday from the Qatar Financial Centre and the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority announcing a new legal framework to keep an eye on the booming crypto scene in Qatar. This framework lays down the rules for how to handle digital assets, looks at how we represent those assets digitally (think tokenization), acknowledges the ownership rights over both digital currencies and the real assets they represent, plus it covers regulations for custody, transactions, and trading platforms. On top of that, smart contracts are now officially recognized.
Big props to Qatar for making this move! I really hope it sets a trend for other countries in the area to get on board.
It's exciting to think that crypto culture might spread more with laws that embrace it, not just in Arab nations but all around the globe. The Arab world can definitely hold its ground with the rest of the planet, especially now that Bahrain and the UAE are backing blockchain projects, allowing companies to operate with proper licenses. And now, Qatar’s stepping into the game, while Morocco and Oman are also looking into draft laws. What these countries are doing is pretty impressive and puts them ahead of many others.
Alright!
Bravo Qatar!
The brave ones who decide to take their country into the future of finance are the one's who will be at the top of the field in the future. I will definitely be watching the news on further crypto development in Qatar.
I expect Mexico will follow the legalisation of Bitcoin as legal tender in the near future, next.
But who knows? There are other brave countries who are not afraid to take the first step!
Except this piece of News about Qatar have no thing to do with Bitcoin being Legal Tender over there. They are only regulating Bitcoin nationally, which means creating Laws for Bitcoin to be used in a regulated way and to sort out any fear and uncertainty around the subject.
Besides. Countries that made Bitcoin Legal Tender are not in a happy place and were not in one for many years. While it sounds great to us, that choice was only one of the last remaining options of theirs to try to revive the Economy. I really believe a strong Governmental power would think making Bitcoin a Legal Tender is a mistake.
I am aware of this. Although perhaps I worded it wrongly. I just think that the next biggest development in lifting restrictions/introducing a legal financial world of Bitcoin/cryptocurrency will come from Mexico. Although who knows? I was certainly not expecting Qatar to become so lax on cryptocurrency
Good news coming from the Asian country Qatar. It is a very good development by the government to actually recognise digital assets and have to regulate it for their citizens, putting laws and regulations on them on how to use them, its still a good course for digital assets. The recognition of this digital asset will also break the fear of using such a currency and its stigmatisation of being a non-physical and vanishing currency will be relieved. More countries in the Arab region may follow soon, or we might get another country from far continent that will follow same pattern soon. I am not expecting so, but Im hoping it will soon.
What we notice is a general trend for Gulf countries to adopt the emerging market for cryptocurrencies with the aim of attracting diverse global investments. The wealthy Gulf countries can provide a comfortable space for these investments after they have developed into a global economic center capable of competing with other countries and regional blocs.
The situation in Mexico will be a little different because Mexico's economic situation is not suitable for attracting all investments, and let's not forget the security situation because the Gulf countries record the lowest levels of crime rates in addition to advanced economies that keep pace with technology. I am not saying that Mexico does not deserve this development, but I expect it to be limited in comparison to a prosperous regional bloc such as the Arab Gulf countries.
I presume it is almost impossible for most Countries NOT to introduce Regulatory Frameworks simply because Bitcoin is being used around and they need a Framework to work with. Otherwise it may remain in a very gray or uncertain area. But since only few Countries have a proper Framework, I believe most of them are waiting for a good ground to start from. It is far easier to follow the success of one Country than to create your own ground from zero.
Qatar is not a first country in the Middle East region does this, legalize cryptocurrency market. There are many countries and overall stats on Legality status are like this.
Legal Tender: 2
Legal: 137
Alegal: 34
Illegal: 8
Unknown: 73
Bitcoin legality map
https://newhedge.io/terminal/bitcoin/legality-map
https://coin.dance/poli/legality
El Salvador has been one country shown a great utilization of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies of its facilities lingering to a more speculations and adoptions of crypto currencies with their various potentials that are of good conducive ness for digital and flexible economy supports.
The level by which Quotar has undertaken towards the expanded adoptions of crypto in different peripherals has also been a unique play in nthe crypto industry lingering to a wider range of crypto awareness.
Yeah but it's not bad at all that one more join in the regulation of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. And Qatar being the 5th in nominal GPD per capita in the world, even less. Positive regulation in a country where there is money is always going to have more impact on the global ecosystem than in a country with fewer resources.
Arab Nations are always slow to adopt modern technologies. They always want to take time to investigate such innovation to ensure that it doesn't contradict the culture and religion of the location. In Africa, the majority of the countries where Bitcoin is illegal are located in the North region, and they are mostly Arabs. Dubai and Qatar are leading that region in the crypto sector, and I hope it will spread to other countries, especially Saudi Arabia.
The only country that recognizes Bitcoin as a legal tender currently is El Salvador. Central African Republic has reversed the law that made Bitcoin a legal tender.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/why-bitcoin-failed-in-car
The Qatar government is reported to own Al Jazeera Media Network, which is said to sympathize with terrorists. It seems that the government is introducing crypto regulations to show that they are not involved in illegal activities through crypto payments. This could be an attempt to avoid being placed on the FATF list. You can learn more about the controversies surrounding this media outlet in an article about Jazeera's controversies and criticism. While I haven't found any information about the US deep state involved in such regulations, it could be seen as a positive step in controlling money laundering and preventing indirect support to terrorist groups by Qatar.
The acceleration of the establishment of a regulatory framework for these emerging markets is mainly driven by the need to keep pace with what is happening in the global market. In this case, Qatar finds itself forced to find a clear legal framework for various financial activities since the countries in the Arabian Gulf region are economically and financially interconnected and there are channels available for the movement of goods, people and money in the regional economic alliance within the Gulf Cooperation Council. In addition, this market will open a door to the flow of money from abroad, whether in the form of investments or deposited assets, and Qatar will lag behind in this development if it does not accelerate the activation of regulatory laws.
In fact, I was waiting for Saudi Arabia to be the next country on the list of countries regulating crypto in the Arabian Gulf since its economic relations are very strong with both the Emirates and Bahrain and since Qatar is in a crisis of relations with its neighbors, but it seems that Qatar wanted to precede in an attempt to win more investments.
Qatar has proven that it is a suitable country for various activities, especially after its success in organizing the World Cup, so it has become more popular globally and highly reliable.
Qatar does have many surprises about Bitcoin legally, the development of Bitcoin in Qatar is getting more and more brilliant day by day, from cons to pros, this proves that Qatar will one day become the Islamic country that adopts Bitcoin the most, I'm sure of that.
There are many media speculating about the surge in Bitcoin prices this year, there are those who link Qatari billionaires to the impact of Bitcoin's current increase and about developments carried out by Qatar's central bank. It would not be surprising if Bitcoin could be legally legalized in Qatar, Likewise, the Qatari government plans to buy 1 million Bitcoins in the near future, this shows that Bitcoin will be priced at a level above $100k in the future, most likely, due to the impact of Qatari policies.
The wording of the news seems a bit misleading.
The news is about the Qatar Financial Center, which is under the Qatar Central Bank, but it works exactly like a free zone and has a completely separate regulatory, tax and commercial framework from Qatar, so the legislative regulations will be related to the Qatar Financial Center and not all of Qatar.
As far as I know, there is no interest from the state to adopt Bitcoin, and even citizens prefer to invest in real estate more than stocks/crypto.
Media report ---------> https://www.qfc.qa/en/media-centre/news/list/qatar-financial-centre-issues-qfc-digital-assets-framework-2024
My expectations that Saudi Arabia will be next on the list are based on the interconnected economies of the Gulf countries and that any impact on one of them will be reflected on the rest. Since both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have announced the regulation of the crypto market, Saudi Arabia will join them as the giant of the Gulf economy. At the same time, I agree with the opinion that the Gulf countries are not encouraging the sector as a whole since there is no reason for them to do so. The value of their currencies is almost stable and inflation rates are within reasonable limits. Without forgetting that the largest number of the population of the Gulf region are expatriate workers who do not need to keep their wages in local currencies, in addition to the competencies who receive their payments in global currencies (dollars or euros), and I believe that this category is the most benefited from the crypto legislation because this will enable them first to store their savings in the form of a safe investment (to escape the problems in their local currencies), in addition to the ease of making transfers to and from their countries very quickly and with fees and also with great privacy.
El Salvador is the only country where BTC is a legal tender, Central African Republic also followed in El Salvador's footsteps and made BTC a legal tender, but they rescinded that decision, and the reasons include, but not limited to: poverty, illiteracy, inadequate power supply, political instability, etc.
BTC is a legal tender in El Salvador, but i'm afraid that people over there hardly use BTC, neither do they even have enough understanding of BTC, hopefully that changes in the future.