Bitcoin in Libya: What the Law Says, and Where It Is Silent

As of October 18, 2026. This article describes what Libyan primary sources show on that date and marks what is only announced. I read Arabic sources in the original. Translations are mine. Libyan primary sources on Bitcoin are sparse and often hard to open, so this guide is shorter than my other country guides, and every gap is listed under "Unverified points."

I found no Libyan statute, decree or Central Bank of Libya (CBL) instrument that defines, permits or prohibits Bitcoin. The CBL announced on June 15, 2025 that it would prepare a legal and technical framework for digital and crypto currencies, but no such framework appears on its website. Bitcoin is not covered by any licensing regime I could find.

No primary source I could open says either way. I found no statute, decree or binding CBL instrument on Bitcoin or virtual currency (العملة الافتراضية, al-ʿumla al-iftirāḍiyya).

I searched the CBL website, the FIU website, the Ministry of Finance and Tax Authority websites, the House of Representatives website, and the Government of National Unity's decision portal. None returned an instrument on Bitcoin that I could open.

A silent statute book is not a permission. It means only that no text I could verify addresses the question.

A 2018 statement (بيان, bayān) attributed to the CBL, said to ban dealing in virtual currencies, is widely cited in secondary reporting. I could not find it on the CBL's website, so I cannot confirm its date, number, wording, addressees or binding force.

The difference matters. A CBL circular (منشور, manshūr) addressed to banks can bind them as supervised institutions. A public statement is a warning unless a law gives it more force. Without the text, I cannot say which this was.

No primary source I found makes holding Bitcoin an offense. I found no text that prohibits holding it, and I do not state that holding is illegal.

That is a statement about the sources, not a safe harbor. Conduct around Bitcoin, such as moving money abroad or using electricity, falls under other rules I could not read in full.

The CBL's only position I could verify is an announced project. On June 15, 2025, at the opening of its first Electronic Payment Exhibition and Forum, the CBL reported that its Governor had launched the national financial inclusion strategy and a set of projects.

One of them reads: "تجهيز إطار قانوني وتقني للعمل بالعملات الرقمية والمشفرة." In my translation: preparing a legal and technical framework for working with digital and crypto currencies (العملات الرقمية والمشفرة, al-ʿumlāt al-raqmiyya wa-l-mushaffara).

This is an announcement, not law. The CBL gave no text, timeline or scope. Its financial inclusion strategy for 2025 to 2029 does not mention virtual currencies.

No licensing regime for Bitcoin businesses appears in any CBL source I opened. The CBL's mandate rests on Law No. 1 of 2005 on Banks, as amended by Law No. 46 of 2012, according to the CBL's history page. I did not find a provision of that law applying to Bitcoin, and I do not extend its general rules to Bitcoin by analogy.

No CBL foreign exchange instrument I could identify mentions Bitcoin. The rules govern how dinars convert to foreign currency and how money leaves the country, and they say nothing I could read about Bitcoin.

The CBL's exchange rate page records three recent Board decisions. Decision No. (18) of March 26, 2025 devalued the dinar by 13.3% from April 6, 2025. Decision No. (1) of January 14, 2026 cut it by 14.7% to 0.1150 SDR from January 18, 2026.

The 2026 circulars list includes Circular No. 10 of 2026 on the official exchange rate for personal purposes, Circular No. 6 of 2026 on direct external transfers through exchange companies, and Circular No. 14 of 2026 allowing banks to make direct external transfers. I could not open their texts.

In practice: buying Bitcoin from abroad means moving dinars or foreign currency through channels the CBL regulates, under rules whose Bitcoin treatment I could not confirm.

Libya's anti-money laundering laws apply to suspicious transactions generally. I found no provision on virtual assets in any part I could read.

The FIU's legislation page lists four texts: Law No. 2 of 2005 on combating money laundering, its executive regulation, Law No. 1013 of 2017 on combating money laundering and terrorist financing with a regulation implementing UN Security Council resolutions, and Law No. 3 of 2014 on combating terrorism. The page does not say which provisions are in force, and I could not read the texts themselves.

The Libyan Financial Information Unit (وحدة المعلومات المالية الليبية, Waḥdat al-Maʿlūmāt al-Māliyya al-Lībiyya) analyzes suspicious transactions and activities (المعاملات والأنشطة المشبوهة, al-muʿāmalāt wa-l-anshiṭa al-mashbūha). It uses data and reports from financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions, according to its own description.

The FIU states that it began in 2002 as a unit of the CBL's banking and currency supervision department. It became a separate department in 2008 and an independent unit under Law No. 1013 of 2017. The CBL Governor chairs the National Committee on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, of which the FIU's director is a member.

The FIU's questions and answers on money laundering do not mention virtual currencies.

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

The Tax Authority's website lists Law No. 7 of 2010 on income taxes. I could not read the law's articles, and nothing on the pages I opened mentions Bitcoin. I do not extend general income categories to Bitcoin.

I could not verify any mining rule in a primary source. Decisions on mining equipment imports and prosecutions of mining operations are reported in secondary sources, but I could not open the instruments, judgments or official statements themselves.

Mining therefore appears under "Unverified points," not in this guide's findings.

The instruments cited here come from the CBL and the FIU as they appear on their current websites. The CBL's site names Naji Mohamed Issa as Governor, and its 2024 annual report is issued by the Board of Directors he chairs.

The CBL's exchange rate page records that a foreign exchange fee introduced in September 2018 came from the CBL and "the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord," and that a Presidential Council decision of July 30, 2019 lowered it. The CBL's own page thus records joint action with that council in that period.

The FIU's legislation page does not state which body issued Law No. 1013 of 2017. I found no primary source documenting a dispute over the validity of any instrument cited here.

No primary source I opened applies Libya sanctions to Bitcoin. The UN Security Council 1970 Committee's assets freeze page cites Resolution 1970 (2011), Resolution 2009 (2011) and Resolution 2769 (2025), and refers to "funds, other financial assets and economic resources."

It does not mention virtual assets. I could not open the EU's Libya sanctions regulation on EUR-Lex.

The only announced measure I could verify is the CBL's project of June 15, 2025 to prepare a legal and technical framework for digital and crypto currencies. It has no published text, and I found no stage beyond the announcement.

I found no bill on Bitcoin on the House of Representatives website.

Nothing that I found. No primary source I opened mentions wallets, private keys or holding Bitcoin.

For a resident, the practical exposure lies at the edges where Bitcoin meets regulated money: bank and exchange company transfers under CBL circulars, and suspicious transaction reporting under the anti-money laundering laws. The rules on those edges exist; their Bitcoin treatment is what the sources leave open.

No primary source I could open defines, permits or prohibits Bitcoin. I found no Libyan statute, decree or binding Central Bank of Libya circular on Bitcoin or virtual currency. On June 15, 2025, the CBL announced a project to prepare a legal and technical framework for digital and crypto currencies, with no published text.

I found no primary source that makes holding Bitcoin an offense, so I do not state that it is illegal. That reflects silence in the sources I could verify, not a confirmed permission. Moving money abroad and suspicious transaction reporting fall under CBL circulars and anti-money laundering laws I could not read in full.

A 2018 statement attributed to the Central Bank of Libya is widely cited in secondary reporting as banning dealings in virtual currencies. I could not find it on the CBL's website, so its date, number, wording, addressees and binding force remain unconfirmed. A public statement is not the same as a binding circular.

I could not verify a mining rule in any primary source. Import restrictions on mining equipment and prosecutions of mining operations appear in secondary reporting, but I could not open the decisions, judgments or official statements. I found no electricity rule naming mining in the sources I could read.

No Libyan tax source I found addresses Bitcoin gains, mining income, gifts or inheritance. The Tax Authority lists Law No. 7 of 2010 on income taxes, but the pages I opened do not mention Bitcoin, and I could not read the law's articles. I do not extend general income categories to Bitcoin.

The Libyan Financial Information Unit analyzes suspicious transactions using reports from financial institutions and designated businesses. It states that it became independent under Law No. 1013 of 2017, and the CBL Governor chairs the national anti-money laundering committee. None of the FIU pages I read mention virtual currencies.

This article is general information and not legal advice.

To see how Libya 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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