The Communications and Information Technology Regulatory Authority is “leading an extensive monitoring movement towards 5 government agencies, in an effort to develop regulatory and legal frameworks to deal with what it called unbridled control in Kuwait on encrypted electronic currencies, foremost of which is Bitcoin, the most traded and famous globally.”
Informed sources told Al-Rai “the Communications Authority is preparing to elicit the views of the Ministries of Interior, Electricity and Water, in addition to the Central Bank of Kuwait, the Fatwa and Legislation Department of the Council of Ministers and the General Administration of Customs on the perceptions presented by each party, paving the way for setting up a specific mechanism for state institutions to deal legally with trading in encrypted currency, and its miners inside Kuwait.”
The sources stated that “what gives this government coordination its momentum is the seizure of technical devices that were seized by the Customs Administration last week, which were of high specifications and power, and it was later revealed after the Communications Authority revealed that it includes Bitcoin mining.”
The sources indicated that “the absence of clear special laws regarding dealing with cryptocurrencies locally puts the concerned authorities in the face of a dilemma, either releasing devices that can be used in mining cryptocurrencies, and exposing them to the risks of using them for a purpose other than their stated purpose, or seizing them, and then facing a judicial problem with importers of cryptocurrencies devices.
The sources pointed out that “among other problems, some banks note the transfer of large sums to their clients’ accounts, and inform them that the source is the sale of bitcoins and their profits. At a time when such investments are not recognized in Kuwait, but at the same time they are not legally punishable, which is what puts the regulators in a deficit when dealing with their investors and dealers.”