Cryptocurrencies are banned in Morocco, but bitcoin that is peer-to-peerBTC, -5.18%) trading platform LocalBitcoins is reporting all-time trading highs this season.

2021 was the platform’s “best thirty days ever” in Morocco with regards to trading volumes, based on LocalBitcoins Chief Marketing Officer Jukka Blomberg, who stated about $900,000 worth of bitcoin was exchanged regarding the platform through the thirty days February. LocalBitcoins also saw a 30% escalation in individual registrations between 2019 and 2020, with over 700 accounts which can be new, Blomberg said.

Bitcoin purchases are increasing despite a ban on cryptocurrencies in the north country that is African. In November 2017, Morocco’s Foreign Exchange Office informed the general public that is general digital money transactions were an infringement on foreign exchange regulations and susceptible to sanctions and fines. Financial regulators continue to see cryptocurrencies with doubt, even as the country’s central bank investigates some great benefits of a government-issued nationwide electronic money (CBDC).

Regardless of the ban, trading on peer-to-peer platforms like LocalBitcoins rose steadily in recent times. From November 2017 to February 2021, exchanging volumes on the platform saw a high 215per cent enhance.

The 2020 bitcoin price run drove the interest in the cryptocurrency all over the world. In Morocco, a combination of curiosity and a desire for economic autonomy is Moroccans which are driving purchase crypto, based on Insaf Nori, Middle East community manager at cryptocurrency company Decred.

“Some traders simply want the gain that is fast cryptocurrencies. A number of them want financial freedom simply because they don’t usage banks,” Nori, who is located in Casablanca