Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) released a statement on Sunday warning that cryptocurrency trading is illegal in the country. In the statement released by SAMA:

“Virtual currency including, for example, but not limited to, the Bitcoins are illegal in the kingdom and no parties or individuals are licensed for such practices.”

The reason claimed for making cryptocurrency trading illegal was due to the fact that cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and provide a high risk for traders.

Saudi Arabia has also formed a standing committee by the supreme decree headed by Capital Market Authority (CMA), Ministry of Ministry of Interior membership, Ministry of Media, Ministry of Commerce and Investment and Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) for monitoring and reducing the marketing for Forex and cryptocurrency trading.

According to the statement:

“The standing committee confirmed that government parties relevant to investment in the financial sector provide all needed information about authorized parties that interested investors can refer to as they are under supervision by the controlling authorities.”

The statement does not include as to what the penalty is if found trading in cryptocurrencies. In the December of 2017, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal remarked that Bitcoin is “just going to implode one day”.

Is Saudi’s cryptocurrency ban responsible for the current bear market?

The current bear market was started yesterday (13th August) when Ethereum dropped below $300. Since then cryptocurrency market cap has lost $9 billion in valuation and is currently worth $194 Billion.

“93 Tokens (from top 100) have dropped in double digit valuation”

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