The short answer
- Crypto is not legal tender and its use is “not authorised”. The Office des Changes statement of 20 November 2017 still applies.
- Holding coins is not a named crime, but the routes to buy them (dirhams sent abroad, dealers, P2P transfers) run into exchange-control and banking rules.
- Draft law 42.25 is not law. Published for comment in November 2025, still under review in July 2026.
- Enforcement is real: a Court of Cassation conviction in 2021 and Office des Changes notices to residents in 2026.
Why “is it legal” has no yes-or-no answer
Crypto is in a legal grey zone in Morocco. Owning it is not a named crime, but since 2017 the Office des Changes has treated crypto transactions as a breach of exchange-control rules, and paying with crypto is not allowed. Draft law 42.25, which would license crypto providers, had not been adopted when we last checked.
Most countries regulate crypto with a crypto law. Morocco does it with a foreign-exchange law. That single fact explains almost every contradiction you will read online. Bitcoin itself is not mentioned in the Penal Code. What is regulated, tightly, is the movement of value between the dirham and foreign currencies, and anything that looks like taking money from the public without a banking licence.
Picture a Casablanca engineer who sends 20,000 MAD by bank transfer to a stranger on Binance P2P and receives USDT in return. No law says “buying USDT is forbidden”. But the transaction swaps dirhams for a dollar-denominated asset held on a platform abroad, outside any approved intermediary. That is the part regulators object to. The same engineer holding Bitcoin he mined years ago, or received while working in Dubai, is in a much quieter position.
So the honest answer is: crypto sits in a grey zone, tolerated in practice, prohibited in principle for payments and cross-border transfers, and enforced selectively. The rest of this page shows where each line comes from.
What did Moroccan regulators say about crypto?
The Office des Changes statement, 20 November 2017
The trigger was a company called MTDS, which announced on 14 November 2017 that it would accept Bitcoin. Six days later the Office des Changes, the authority that polices foreign-exchange rules, published a short “mise au point”. Its core sentence states that transactions carried out through virtual currencies constitute an infringement of the exchange regulations, exposing those involved to the sanctions and fines in force.Office des Changes, 20 Nov 2017
The statement adds that cross-border payments must go through approved intermediaries and in currencies listed by Bank Al-Maghrib. It calls virtual currencies a hidden system not backed by any financial institution, and says the Office is monitoring the situation with Bank Al-Maghrib and the banking association GPBM.
The joint warning, 21 November 2017
The next day the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Bank Al-Maghrib and the AMMC issued a joint communiqué. It warned that press reports about Bitcoin acceptance might suggest the currency was recognised, which it was not. The risks listed were the absence of regulation, no consumer protection if a platform fails, extreme volatility, and use for money laundering and terrorist financing.AMMC
The “new warning”, around 2021
Several years later Bank Al-Maghrib, the AMMC and the Office des Changes published a “nouvelle mise en garde”. It noted that people kept using virtual currencies despite the earlier notices and repeated that their use is not authorised. The Office des Changes page is undated; press coverage places it around April 2021, and some outlets reported on it again in 2022, so treat the exact date with caution.Office des Changes
The Court of Cassation ruling 462/3 of 24 March 2021
The clearest judicial signal came from Morocco’s highest court. In ruling n° 462/3 of 24 March 2021, the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of a Bitcoin intermediary. According to a published legal commentary, the man had served more than 1,000 clients since 2016. He received dirhams into his bank accounts and bought Bitcoin for them in euros or dollars abroad.Legal commentary
The grounds matter. The court did not convict him for “using Bitcoin”. It relied on two things: banking-law violations, because he collected funds from the public and acted as an intermediary without a licence, and exchange-control violations under the 1949 Dahir, because value left Morocco without authorisation.
Lower courts have not all followed the same line. Hespress reported convictions in some cases and acquittals in others, where judges held that exchange law covers conventional currencies only. The Presidency of the Public Prosecution commissioned a study on the question.Hespress Our reading: the risk is highest for anyone who looks like a dealer, meaning frequent trades, many counterparties and money flowing through a personal account.
Law 42.25 tracker from 2017 to today
Morocco has been moving from prohibition towards regulation for almost a decade. The timeline below records each step we could source. It is the part of this page we update first.
- Ban by communiqué
Office des Changes statement, then joint warning by the Ministry of Finance, BAM and the AMMC.
- Court of Cassation ruling 462/3
Conviction of a Bitcoin intermediary upheld on banking and exchange-control grounds.
- New joint warning
BAM, AMMC and Office des Changes repeat that use is not authorised.
- BAM confirms a draft exists
Governor Jouahri describes an internal commission working with World Bank support.
- “In the adoption circuit”
Jouahri says the bill is in the adoption process; draft ready since late 2022.
- BAM asks to prioritise the bill
Request to the government secretariat (SGG) so Parliament can debate it.
- Draft 42.25 published for comment
Pre-draft posted on the SGG portal; one analysis dates the document to 5 Aug 2025.
- Still at the SGG
Hespress reports the bill under review, final form unknown.
- BAM: work ongoing
Annual banking supervision report; no date for Parliament.
- Not adopted
No Government Council approval, no vote, no Bulletin Officiel publication found.
Sources for the 2025–2026 steps: Médias24 on the November 2025 publication,Médias24 and Morocco World News on the July 2026 BAM report.MWN The government’s draft-law portal is at sgg.gov.ma. A few websites claim Bank Al-Maghrib published a 216-page framework in May 2026; we found no trace of it on bkam.ma or in the mainstream press, so we do not count it.
What does draft law 42.25 say?
We have not seen the final text, and nobody outside government has, because there is none yet. The points below come from press analyses of the consultation draft, mainly Hespress, La Vie Éco and Le Brief.Hespress, 9 Nov 2025
- Status of crypto: a distinct category of financial asset, explicitly not legal tender and not a means of payment.
- AMMC licensing for crypto-asset service providers: exchange, custody, portfolio management, transfer, placement and advice. The AMMC would have 120 days to decide on an application and could withdraw a licence.
- Stablecoins under Bank Al-Maghrib: only BAM-approved banks or payment institutions could issue asset-referenced tokens, with BAM supervising reserves and redemption.
- Utility tokens: an AMMC-approved white paper before any public offer.
- AML duties: KYC, records kept for 10 years, suspicious-transaction reports to the ANRF and the FATF Travel Rule.
- Exclusions: central-bank digital currency, NFTs and mining. Some analyses add DeFi to the list; the US Law Library of Congress says DeFi is in scope, so sources conflict.
- Transition: an 18-month period reported by Bourse News for existing activity to comply.
The model is the EU’s MiCA regulation, and the structure follows it closely: a market regulator for service providers, the central bank for stablecoins. Critics such as Badr Bellaj, quoted by La Vie Éco, pointed to gaps. The draft says little about self-custody and P2P, requires reporting of all transactions with no threshold, and leaves tax treatment unclear.La Vie Éco No retail investment limit appears in any source we reviewed.
The 2026 Office des Changes notices
For years enforcement felt theoretical. That changed in spring 2026. The Office des Changes sent formal notices (“mises en demeure”) to what the press called a limited number of residents. The letters allege undeclared crypto assets held abroad and sales to Moroccan residents between March and August 2025. One reported notice is dated 28 April 2026 and gives the recipient 30 days to provide supporting documents before the case moves to litigation.Infomédiaire
The window, March to August 2025, and the wording about sales “to residents” point at P2P traders: people who regularly sold USDT on international platforms to Moroccan buyers paying in dirhams. How the Office identified them has not been disclosed. Bank transfer patterns are the obvious hypothesis, but that is our inference.
AML: Morocco’s FATF track record and why it shapes crypto rules
Crypto policy in Morocco is driven as much by anti-money-laundering commitments as by investor protection. The anchor is law 43-05 on money laundering, amended by law 12-18, which the House of Representatives passed in May 2021 to bring the framework in line with FATF standards.
Morocco was placed on the FATF grey list in February 2021 and removed by unanimous decision at the February 2023 plenary in Paris, after an on-site visit in January.Hespress On virtual assets specifically, the FATF re-rated Morocco on Recommendation 15 (new technologies and virtual-asset service providers) from non-compliant to partially compliant in its May 2024 follow-up report.FATF, May 2024
That upgrade explains the shape of draft 42.25. FATF wants VASPs licensed, supervised and applying the Travel Rule. A country cannot claim to supervise providers that, legally, cannot exist. Licensing them through the AMMC is the logical next step.
When will Morocco launch the e-dirham?
There is no date yet. Bank Al-Maghrib is studying a central-bank digital currency (CBDC), often called the e-dirham. In July 2025 Governor Abdellatif Jouahri said a first experiment on person-to-person payments had been completed and a second phase was testing cross-border transfers with the Central Bank of Egypt, with World Bank support.Médias24
He was equally clear that a launch is a medium to long-term matter, conditional on a robust legal framework and cybersecurity, and that the crypto-asset law comes first. There is no launch date. Claims of a public pilot with 50,000 testers or a 2027 launch come from a single commercial site and contradict each other, so we treat them as unreliable. An e-dirham would in any case be central-bank money, excluded from 42.25, and nothing like Bitcoin.
Can merchants accept crypto payments?
No, and this is the least ambiguous point on the page. The 2017 ban exists because a company announced Bitcoin payments. A shop in Marrakech’s Guéliz that prices a carpet in USDT, or a web agency in Rabat that invoices a client in Bitcoin, is receiving value outside the dirham system and outside approved intermediaries. Draft 42.25 would not change that: it defines crypto-assets as not a means of payment.
What about a Moroccan freelancer paid in USDT by a foreign client? That income arrives abroad, not through a Moroccan bank, and has to be repatriated under exchange-control rules. It is a different question from merchant payments, and a delicate one. Our guides on converting crypto to dirhams and on crypto cards and payments cover the practical side.
What is and isn’t risky for an individual
This is not legal advice. It is a reading of how enforcement has actually worked, ranked from lower to higher exposure.
| Situation | Our risk reading | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Holding coins acquired abroad while non-resident | Lower | No dirham left Morocco to buy them |
| Occasional small P2P purchase for yourself | Grey | Dirhams swapped for a foreign asset, no approval |
| Regular P2P selling to many buyers | High | Fits the 2026 notices and the 2021 ruling |
| Accepting crypto for goods or services | High | Direct conflict with the 2017 ban |
| Running a paid exchange or “changeur” service | Very high | Banking law and exchange control together |
A few practical habits reduce trouble regardless of where you sit. Keep amounts proportionate to your declared income. Do not let your personal account become a pipeline for other people’s money. Never accept payment from a third party whose name differs from the P2P counterpart, a classic fraud covered in our scam guide. Store coins where you understand the custody, either a self-custody wallet from our wallet guide or a large exchange with clear licences abroad.
On that last point, no exchange holds a Moroccan licence, because none can yet be issued. Some hold serious licences elsewhere. CEX.IO, operating since 2013, is registered with FinCEN as a money-services business and holds US state money-transmitter licences (NMLS 1804170). It also runs an EU entity, CEX.IO Europe S.L. in Spain, and is registered in the UK. It accepts Moroccan accounts, but Visa and Mastercard deposits are not available for Morocco, so users fund it with crypto. Compare alternatives in our exchange reviews or in our ranking of the best crypto exchanges in Morocco.
Open an account with an exchange regulated abroad and fund it with crypto you already hold.
Licensed in several jurisdictions · external linkOfficial sources to bookmark
When a WhatsApp group announces that “crypto is now legal in Morocco”, check these sites before believing it. A law exists only once it appears in the Bulletin Officiel.
- Office des Changes for exchange-control rules, notices and allowances.
- Bank Al-Maghrib for monetary policy, stablecoins and the e-dirham.
- AMMC for capital-market warnings and, one day, crypto licences.
- SGG for draft laws and the Bulletin Officiel.
- FATF for Morocco’s AML evaluations.
Our verdict for now: Morocco is closer to a regulated crypto market than at any time since 2017, but it is not there. Until 42.25 is voted and published, treat every trade as something you may one day have to explain, with documents. If you are just starting, our step-by-step buying guide shows how people do it today and where the legal friction points sit.
Sources
Official and press sources cited in this guide. An external link does not imply any partnership.
- Office des Changes, 20 Nov 2017oc.gov.ma
- AMMCammc.ma
- Office des Changesoc.gov.ma
- Legal commentaryconsultation.avocat.fr
- Hespresshespress.com
- Médias24medias24.com
- MWNmoroccoworldnews.com
- sgg.gov.masgg.gov.ma
- Hespress, 9 Nov 2025fr.hespress.com
- La Vie Écolavieeco.com
- Infomédiaireinfomediaire.net
- Hespressen.hespress.com
- FATF, May 2024fatf-gafi.org
- Médias24medias24.com
- Office des Changesoc.gov.ma
- Bank Al-Maghribbkam.ma
- AMMCammc.ma
- FATFfatf-gafi.org
FAQ
Is crypto banned in Morocco?
Not by a specific criminal law, but using crypto is not authorised. Since 20 November 2017 the Office des Changes has said that transactions in virtual currencies breach the exchange regulations, a position the financial authorities later repeated. Holding coins is not named as an offence, but buying them with dirhams sent abroad, paying with them or acting as a dealer can be prosecuted.
What is law 42.25 in Morocco?
It is the draft law on crypto-assets prepared by the Ministry of Finance, Bank Al-Maghrib and the AMMC. Published for public comment in November 2025, it would license service providers through the AMMC and let only BAM-approved banks or payment institutions issue stablecoins. At the time of writing it has not been adopted.
When will crypto be legal in Morocco?
Nobody has given a date. In July 2026 Bank Al-Maghrib said work on the text was still ongoing, with no date for submission to Parliament. After a vote and publication in the Bulletin Officiel, press reports describe an 18-month transition before the licensing regime fully applies.
What is the penalty for owning Bitcoin in Morocco?
There is no fixed penalty for simple ownership. Exchange-control breaches fall under the 1949 Dahir and related texts, which provide fines and, in serious cases, prosecution. In 2026 the Office des Changes sent formal notices giving some residents 30 days to justify crypto assets held abroad.
Can a shop in Morocco accept Bitcoin as payment?
No. The 2017 ban was triggered precisely by a company announcing it would accept Bitcoin. Crypto is not legal tender, and even draft law 42.25 states that crypto-assets are not a means of payment. A merchant taking crypto exposes itself to exchange-control and banking-law sanctions.
Is the e-dirham available?
No. Bank Al-Maghrib completed a first e-dirham experiment and tested cross-border transfers with the Central Bank of Egypt, but the governor has called it a medium to long-term project with no launch date, to come after the crypto-asset framework. Claims of a public pilot or a 2027 launch come from a single commercial site.
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