Bitcoin in Algeria: Legal Status, Penalties and the Ban on Holding

As of October 18, 2026. This article describes Algerian law in force on that date and marks what is only pending. I relied on the French version of the Official Journal of the Algerian Republic (Journal Officiel de la République Algérienne, JO). I could not reliably read the Arabic text of the same issues, so differences between the two versions are not reported. Translations from French are mine.

Bitcoin is prohibited in Algeria. Since July 2025, Law No. 05-01 on money laundering, as amended by Law No. 25-10, bans issuing, buying, selling, using and holding virtual assets, including mining, and punishes a breach with two months to one year in prison, a fine of 200,000 DA to 1,000,000 DA, or both. No license or registration regime exists for Bitcoin businesses.

No. Two texts prohibit it, and the later one carries criminal penalties of its own.

The first ban came in a finance law. A finance law (loi de finances) is the annual statute that sets the budget, and in Algeria it often carries unrelated rules.

The Finance Law for 2018 is Law No. 17-11 of December 27, 2017, published in JO No. 76 of December 28, 2017. I confirmed the law's number and publication in the JO. The copy I could open stops at Article 69, so I could not read Article 117 in the JO itself.

Its wording is quoted in the national risk assessment on virtual assets of June 2025, an official report published on the website of the Commission for the Organization and Supervision of Stock Exchange Operations (Commission d'organisation et de surveillance des opérations de bourse, COSOB). The report cites the law as "11-17"; the JO numbers it 17-11. According to that report, Article 117 provides:

The provision names no specific penalty. The same report states that the text set no legal consequence for a breach, so persons identified could not be sanctioned under it. Law No. 25-10 did not repeal Article 117; its repeal clause, Article 17, names only four articles of Law No. 05-01.

Law No. 25-10 bans every main Bitcoin activity, holding included. It was signed on July 24, 2025 and published in JO No. 48 of July 24, 2025. Its Article 19 orders publication and sets no separate date of entry into force.

The law amends Law No. 05-01 of February 6, 2005 on the prevention of and fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. Article 5 of Law No. 25-10 inserts a new Article 6 bis, on page 7 of the JO:

The ban applies to virtual assets "comme moyen de paiement ou monnaie reconnue" (as a means of payment or recognized currency) and "comme instrument d'investissement" (as an investment instrument). It ends: "Cette interdiction inclut les activités liées au minage de cryptomonnaie."

The text binds everyone. It contains no exception for individuals, companies, banks, foreigners or small amounts.

On its plain words, yes, though the law never names Bitcoin. Amended Article 4 of Law No. 05-01 defines virtual assets (actifs virtuels) as "valeurs numériques qui peuvent être échangées de manière digitale, transférées ou utilisées" for payment or investment purposes.

The definition excludes digital representations of fiat currencies, securities and other financial assets. Bitcoin is none of those.

The 2023 version of the definition, added by Law No. 23-01 of February 7, 2023 (JO No. 8 of February 8, 2023), referred to payment only. Law No. 23-01 defined virtual assets but did not prohibit them.

Yes. Holding is one of the acts Article 6 bis prohibits, and Article 31 bis attaches a criminal penalty to any breach of Article 6 bis.

The verb used is "détenir," to hold. The text does not distinguish between coins on an exchange and sats in a wallet you control.

Article 6 bis also does not mention when the coins were acquired, or whether coins bought before July 2025 must be sold. I found no transitional provision in Law No. 25-10.

The penalty is two months to one year in prison, a fine of 200,000 DA to 1,000,000 DA, or one of the two. It is set by Article 31 bis of Law No. 05-01, inserted by Article 13 of Law No. 25-10, on page 12 of the JO.

The article opens "Sans préjudice des peines plus sévères prévues par la législation en vigueur" (without prejudice to heavier penalties under other legislation). A heavier penalty under another statute can therefore still apply.

Companies can be liable. Article 34 bis 4 states that a legal person is criminally responsible "dans les conditions prévues par le code pénal."

Article 31 bis contains no separate clause on repeat offenses or confiscation.

They are separate regimes, and before 2025 prosecutors mostly used the foreign exchange one. The June 2025 risk assessment states that virtual asset cases "sont généralement qualifiées d'infractions en matière de change."

The foreign exchange regime is Ordinance No. 96-22 of July 9, 1996. Its Article 1, as rewritten by Ordinance No. 03-01 of February 19, 2003, makes it an offense, "par quelque moyen que ce soit," to breach the foreign exchange rules, including by false declaration, failure to repatriate funds, or acting without a required authorization. It adds that the offender cannot plead good faith.

Article 1 bis, as rewritten by Ordinance No. 10-03 of August 26, 2010, sets two to seven years in prison, a fine "qui ne saurait être inférieure au double de la somme sur laquelle a porté l'infraction," and confiscation. Article 5, as rewritten, fines a private legal person at least four times the amount involved.

Both regimes can attach to the same facts. Article 31 bis expressly preserves heavier penalties.

The report counts 46 cases between 2021 and 2024, 20 convictions, and an estimated 49.87 million DZD at stake. It also lists Law No. 18-05 on e-commerce as a text authorities rely on.

No primary source I found treats Bitcoin as property for civil purposes. I found no published decision of the Supreme Court (Cour suprême) or Council of State (Conseil d'État) on Bitcoin.

The June 2025 risk assessment states that "la loi ne permet pas la confiscation des actifs virtuels," and that the State was still considering how to manage such assets after a confiscation judgment. That statement predates Law No. 25-10. Article 31 bis does not add a confiscation clause.

Insolvency, civil enforcement and inheritance of Bitcoin are not addressed in any text I read.

In practice: heirs of a holder in Algeria would hold a prohibited asset the moment they took control of the keys.

No authority licenses Bitcoin businesses, because the activity is prohibited. The Bank of Algeria (Banque d'Algérie), the Ministry of Finance and COSOB each play a role around the ban.

The Bank of Algeria issues the currency and regulates the exchange market. Under Law No. 23-09 of June 21, 2023, the Monetary and Banking Law (JO No. 43 of June 27, 2023), Article 4 gives legal tender (cours légal) to notes, coins and central bank digital currency issued by the Bank of Algeria "à l'exclusion de tous autres." Bitcoin has no legal tender status.

Article 35 tasks the Bank of Algeria with regulating the exchange market. Article 64 gives the Monetary and Banking Council (Conseil monétaire et bancaire) power over "la réglementation des changes et l'organisation du marché des changes" and over the licensing of payment service providers.

The risk assessment reports that Article 48 of Bank of Algeria Regulation No. 24-03 of July 24, 2024 requires covered institutions to block operations involving prohibited virtual assets or providers and report them to the financial intelligence unit. I could not open the regulation itself.

The Ministry of Finance hosts the financial intelligence unit, described below. COSOB supervises the securities market. It published the virtual asset risk assessment, but I found no COSOB regulation that authorizes or governs Bitcoin.

No. Article 6 bis prohibits creating or operating exchange platforms. Law No. 25-10 does not use the term virtual asset service provider (prestataire de services d'actifs virtuels) anywhere.

Sending or receiving funds abroad to buy or sell Bitcoin falls under the general exchange control regime, and no rule allows it. Foreign exchange operations are regulated by the Monetary and Banking Council and the Bank of Algeria under Articles 35 and 64 of Law No. 23-09.

I could not open the Bank of Algeria's exchange regulations, as its website refused automated access. I therefore do not describe them.

What the JO texts confirm is the offense. Under Article 1 of Ordinance No. 96-22, breaching an exchange rule by any means is an offense, and good faith is no excuse. The June 2025 report states that authorities generally charge virtual asset cases this way.

Law No. 05-01, as amended in 2012, 2015, 2023 and 2025, is the anti-money laundering statute. The ban on virtual assets now sits inside it.

Reporting entities (assujettis) are financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions. They must file a suspicious transaction report (déclaration de soupçon) with the specialized body (organe spécialisé). Article 32 punishes knowingly refusing to file one.

The Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (Cellule de traitement du renseignement financier, CTRF) describes itself as an independent administrative authority placed with the Minister of Finance. It was created by Executive Decree No. 02-127 of April 7, 2002. It receives and analyzes suspicious transaction reports and forwards cases to the public prosecutor (procureur de la République).

In practice: a bank or postal transfer that looks linked to Bitcoin trading can be reported, and the report counts peer-to-peer trading paid through postal and bank channels among observed uses.

No Algerian tax text I found addresses Bitcoin. I found nothing on gains, mining income, gifts or inheritance involving Bitcoin.

I searched the General Directorate of Taxes (Direction générale des impôts) website without result. The text of the Finance Law for 2026, Law No. 25-17 (JO No. 88 of December 31, 2025), contains no such provision in the part I could read, up to Article 45. The risk assessment does not discuss tax either.

Taxing an activity the law prohibits is a question no text I found answers.

No. Article 6 bis of Law No. 05-01 states that its prohibition includes activities related to cryptocurrency mining (minage de cryptomonnaie), and Article 31 bis punishes a breach.

The June 2025 risk assessment records a 2022 investigation involving mining equipment and a customs seizure of a mining device at a border post in 2024. It links interest in mining to the low cost of electricity in Algeria. I found no specific rule on electricity use or on importing mining equipment.

I found no pending bill on Bitcoin or virtual assets. No draft appeared on the websites of the People's National Assembly (Assemblée populaire nationale) or the Council of the Nation (Conseil de la Nation) in my searches.

Two points remain open on the government's side. The June 2025 risk assessment states that the State was still considering a mechanism to manage virtual assets after confiscation. Article 3 of Law No. 23-09 refers to future regulations on issuing a central bank digital currency, called the Algerian Digital Dinar (Dinar Algérien Digital). Neither changes the Bitcoin ban.

Self-custody gives no exemption. Article 6 bis prohibits holding virtual assets, without regard to where or how they are held.

The law is silent on detection. In practice, exposure comes through the points where Bitcoin touches the regulated system: bank and postal transfers, foreign exchange flows, customs and online advertising. Those are the channels the June 2025 report describes.

No. Article 6 bis of Law No. 05-01, inserted by Law No. 25-10 of July 24, 2025, prohibits issuing, buying, selling, using and holding virtual assets, trading or promoting them, and operating exchange platforms. Bitcoin falls within the law's definition of virtual assets. Article 117 of the Finance Law for 2018 had already banned virtual currency.

Holding virtual assets is prohibited by Article 6 bis of Law No. 05-01, and Article 31 bis punishes anyone who breaches Article 6 bis. The penalty is two months to one year in prison, a fine of 200,000 DA to 1,000,000 DA, or one of the two. The text makes no exception for self-custody.

Under Article 31 bis of Law No. 05-01, a breach of the virtual asset ban carries two months to one year in prison and a fine of 200,000 DA to 1,000,000 DA, or one of the two. Heavier penalties under other laws are preserved, including foreign exchange penalties of two to seven years under Ordinance No. 96-22.

No. Article 6 bis of Law No. 05-01 states that its prohibition includes activities related to cryptocurrency mining, and Article 31 bis attaches the same prison term and fine. The June 2025 national risk assessment records a customs seizure of a mining device at a border post in 2024.

Law No. 25-10 draws no distinction by nationality. Article 31 bis applies to "quiconque," meaning anyone who breaches the ban on issuing, buying, selling, using or holding virtual assets. I found no exemption for foreign nationals or visitors, and no text addressing coins held abroad by non-residents.

No. Article 6 bis of Law No. 05-01 prohibits creating or operating exchange platforms for virtual assets, and no licensing or registration regime exists. Law No. 25-10 does not use the term virtual asset service provider. The Bank of Algeria licenses payment service providers under Law No. 23-09, which does not cover Bitcoin.

No Algerian tax text I found addresses Bitcoin gains, mining income, gifts or inheritance. The General Directorate of Taxes website returned nothing on the subject, and the readable part of the Finance Law for 2026, Law No. 25-17, contains no such provision. The question remains open in the primary sources.

This article is general information and not legal advice.

To see how Algeria compares with other countries, open The Bitcoin Act's interactive Global Bitcoin Regulatory Map. It sets legal status, self-custody, tax and seizure risk side by side across jurisdictions: https://thebitcoinact.xyz/bitcoin-legal-map

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