Recently, Egypt’s stance on cryptocurrencies has drawn significant discussion due to concerns about it. Egypt’s Grand Mufti, Shawki Allam, issued an Islamic decree at the beginning of the year that directly bans cryptocurrency trading. While the decree itself has no legal force, it is an important statement on a religious level and also reflects the Egyptian authorities’ attitude toward this field.

His core concerns mainly focus on several areas. First is Bitcoin’s anonymity, which is believed to make it easy to use for tax evasion, money laundering, and terrorist financing. Second is market risk—the volatility of cryptocurrencies is too high and difficult to predict, which poses a threat to a country’s ability to maintain stability in its national currency. There is also the problem with the transaction infrastructure itself: cryptocurrencies require complex cryptographic technology to circulate and are not suitable for use as everyday currency.

Allam also stressed investment risk. Cryptocurrencies are, by nature, speculative trades; traders seek excessive profits, but once something goes wrong, investors may end up losing everything. Unlike investments such as stocks and bonds that are backed by real assets, cryptocurrencies lack such protection.

Interestingly, Egypt’s attitude toward cryptocurrencies is not exclusive to religious leaders. Last year, the Central Bank of Egypt publicly refuted rumors of agreement that banks would process Bitcoin transactions, emphasizing that the banking system only handles official currency. This shows that Egyptian government agencies and religious leaders share a consensus on this issue.

From a broader perspective, it is clear that Egypt’s support for cryptocurrencies is not high. Whether from the standpoint of religious law or financial regulation, Egypt is setting clear boundaries. For crypto projects hoping to enter the Egyptian market, this is a clear signal—at least at the official level, Egypt is not going to become a friendly market for cryptocurrencies for the time being.