D
Digital Asset Intelligence
Regulation · Compliance · Risk
Suggest an edit
← Country Intelligence Center
🇪🇬

Egypt

Africa · Restricted

Egypt maintains one of Africa's strictest formal prohibitions — Banking Law 194/2020 requires a CBE licence that has never been issued. Yet currency pressure has driven substantial informal stablecoin adoption, and the FRA's tokenised-securities workstream may become the first regulated on-ramp.

DAI Methodology v2.1 Last updated June 2026
DAI Readiness Score™
38.6
out of 100
Regulatory & Enforcement Agencies

Regulatory agencies for Egypt — being verified. Submit a suggestion →

Regulatory status

Restricted

Source unavailable
Primary regulator

Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) · Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA)

Source unavailable
Licensing requirements

Banking Law 194/2020 Art. 206 prohibits issuing, trading or promoting cryptocurrencies without CBE licence — none granted to date.

Source unavailable
AML requirements

AML Law 80/2002 (as amended); no crypto-specific AML guidance given the prohibition.

Source unavailable
Travel Rule status

None — Not applicable while prohibition stands.

Source unavailable
Tax treatment

No formal guidance; gains theoretically taxable under general income rules.

Source unavailable
Consumer protection

CBE warnings; Dar al-Ifta fatwa discouraging crypto trading underpins public stance.

Source unavailable
Key risks
  • —Large informal market entirely outside AML visibility
  • —Prohibition pushes activity to P2P and offshore venues
  • —Policy reversal risk in either direction
Key legislation
2020
Banking Law 194/2020

Article 206 prohibition on unlicensed crypto activity.

Source unavailable
2002
AML Law 80/2002

General AML baseline; applied by analogy to crypto flows.

Source unavailable
Recent developments
2026-04-25
FRA studies tokenised securities

Working group examines digital issuance under capital markets law.

Source
2026-02-14
CBE reiterates prohibition

Fresh warning amid rising USD-stablecoin usage against EGP pressure.

Source unavailable
Regulatory timeline
  1. 2018

    Dar al-Ifta fatwa against crypto trading

  2. 2020

    Banking Law 194 Art. 206 prohibition

  3. 2023

    Stablecoin usage surges amid EGP devaluation

  4. 2026

    FRA tokenised securities working group

Primary Sources & Official Documents
  1. 01
    FATF Recommendations (including Recommendation 15 — new technologies)
    Financial Action Task Force · Updated periodically
    https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/topics/fatfrecommendations.html
  2. 02
    FATF Targeted Update on Implementation of the Standards on VAs and VASPs
    Financial Action Task Force · Annual
    https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/publications/Fatfrecommendations.html
  3. 03
    High-Risk and Other Monitored Jurisdictions (grey and black lists)
    Financial Action Task Force · Updated three times a year
    https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/publications/High-risk-and-other-monitored-jurisdictions.html

Never miss a change

Track Egypt

Get an email when Egypt publishes a new rulemaking, licensing decision, enforcement action, or sanctions designation. Every alert links to the primary source.

Jurisdictions (leave blank for all)
Topics (leave blank for all)
Delivery

Free. Unsubscribe in one click from any alert.

Page history
Suggest an edit →

Loading revision history…

Spotted something out of date? Practitioner corrections are reviewed against the cited source.

Suggest an edit
Sources:Banking Law 194/2020 (Egypt) · CBE public notices
Professional disclaimerDigital Asset Intelligence content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, investment, or compliance advice. Regulatory positions change frequently; verify all material with primary sources and qualified counsel before relying on it for licensing, supervisory, or compliance decisions.