Nepal’s Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has ordered Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block all websites related to cryptocurrency trading, warning of legal action against non-compliant ISPs.
This follows a notice in September 2021 from Nepal Rastra Bank, the country’s central bank, declaring crypto trading and mining illegal and stating that encouraging others to use crypto is also a punishable activity.
The NTA had issued a similar caution notice in April, asking the public to notify the regulator of any crypto-related activities, but did not call for a block on access to crypto services at that time.
Despite the ban on crypto activities, a September 2021 report by blockchain data firm Chainalysis revealed Nepal as one of the emerging markets at the forefront of global crypto adoption, ranking it 16th overall, ahead of the UK.
Nepal is one of the nine countries that have outright banned cryptocurrencies according to a November 2021 report by the Law Library of Congress.
