Crypto Overview in Lebanon

Regulatory data is for informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current legal developments. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions.

The Republic of Lebanon presents one of the most distinctive cryptocurrency contexts in the Middle East. Against the backdrop of a banking-sector collapse that began in 2019, multi-year capital controls, effective haircuts on dollar deposits, and the country’s October 2024 placement on the Financial Action Task Force grey list, Lebanon has no dedicated cryptocurrency law and prohibits licensed financial institutions from dealing in digital assets. At the same time, dollar-pegged stablecoins, particularly Tether on the Tron network, have come to function as a de facto parallel payment system across large parts of the informal economy. Lebanon ranks among the top-20 highest-volume crypto markets per capita worldwide. In 2025, Lebanon’s Economy Minister met with Binance executives and an inter-ministerial committee began drafting a digital asset regulatory framework, signalling a historic shift in official posture.

Legal Classification and Regulatory Framework

Cryptocurrency Status

Cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in Lebanon and there is no comprehensive crypto-specific statute. In December 2013, the Banque du Liban (BDL, Arabic: مصرف لبنان) became the first central bank in the Middle East and North Africa region to issue a formal warning directing financial institutions not to handle digital currencies, citing price volatility, terrorism financing risk, and money laundering concerns. That warning also prohibited the use of payment cards for crypto purchases. The Capital Markets Authority (CMA, Arabic: هيئة الأسواق المالية) then issued Announcement No. 30 in February 2018, published in the Official Gazette, formally banning licensed financial institutions from issuing, marketing, or trading cryptocurrencies for their own account or on behalf of clients. Individual ownership and peer-to-peer use are not criminalised, but the formal financial system is closed to crypto activity.

Tax Treatment

The Ministry of Finance has not issued comprehensive crypto-specific legislation. A 2018 Ministry circular classified crypto as intangible assets under Income Tax Law No. 144/2001 and VAT Law No. 112/2001. Capital gains realised from the disposal of crypto holdings are subject to a 15% capital gains tax, consistent with the general treatment of intangible asset disposals. Businesses that receive cryptocurrency as payment for goods or services are subject to the standard corporate income tax rate of 17%. The 2024 Budget Law revised withholding tax rates on certain payments and, from 1 January 2025, permitted specified tax obligations to be settled in foreign currency. A Ministry of Finance notification issued in December 2025 announced that taxpayers previously taxed under the deemed profit method would transition to the lump-sum method from 1 January 2026. Treatment in practice remains uncertain given the broader administrative environment, and direct Ministry of Finance consultation is the only reliable route to a current position.

Regulatory Oversight

The Banque du Liban (BDL) oversees the banking sector, monetary policy, and fintech licensing. The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) regulates securities markets and issued the binding 2018 prohibition on crypto activity by licensed financial institutions. The Special Investigation Commission (SIC) serves as Lebanon’s financial intelligence unit under Law No. 44/2015 on Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing. The Banking Control Commission (BCC) cooperates with BDL on banking sector supervision and monitors informal crypto operations, though its enforcement reach in the unregulated peer-to-peer market remains limited. The CMA and SIC maintain a memorandum of understanding on AML and counter-financing-of-terrorism cooperation.

Business Environment

Banking Relationships

Lebanon’s banking sector has been effectively insolvent since 2019, with depositors subject to a series of central bank circulars limiting withdrawals from pre-October 2019 dollar accounts. Effective haircuts on blocked dollar deposits reached roughly 85% in informal secondary-market pricing. BDL Basic Circular No. 158 caps monthly withdrawals from blocked accounts. Banks are formally barred from servicing crypto activity, and no banking on-ramp for crypto businesses exists. The Banking Secrecy Law passed by Parliament on April 24, 2025, lifted banking secrecy retroactively for a 10-year period, aligning Lebanon with international standards and IMF requirements for financial transparency and tax administration. Parliament passed the Law on the Reform and Re-Organization of Banks in Lebanon (Law No. 23/2025) on July 31, 2025, published in the Official Gazette on August 21, 2025, establishing a framework for bank assessment, recapitalisation, and liquidation, with depositor recoveries of up to $100,000 over four years.

Innovation Support

BDL Circular 331, issued on August 22, 2013, guaranteed bank investments in Lebanese knowledge-economy startups through interest-free central bank loans, channelling over $650 million into more than 180 ventures and contributing over $1 billion to GDP. Since the 2019 banking collapse the programme has been effectively dormant: banks cannot honour their own obligations, so the funding pipeline to startups dried up. No regulatory sandbox has been established and no formal fintech licensing track operates in Lebanon today. The new government formed in early 2025 under President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has focused legislative bandwidth on banking-sector restructuring and FATF compliance rather than innovation support infrastructure.

Crypto License in Lebanon

Lebanon has no virtual asset service provider licensing regime. No pathway exists for registering or authorising an exchange, custodian, broker, or token issuer, and the Capital Markets Authority’s 2018 prohibition prevents licensed financial institutions from offering any crypto service. However, 2025 marked a turning point: Lebanon’s Minister of Economy Amer Bisat met with Binance executives and publicly acknowledged that crypto use among Lebanese citizens is “significant and growing.” An inter-ministerial committee began laying groundwork for a domestic digital asset framework, and a BDL official called for an approach modelled on the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), noting that Lebanese courts are already applying strict enforcement in individual cases to support the country’s exit from the FATF grey list.

Current Status

No VASP registration, exchange licence, custody authorisation, or token-issuance framework is in effect. The CMA Announcement No. 30 of 2018 remains the operative prohibition for licensed institutions. Individual peer-to-peer trading is tolerated in practice but carries no consumer protection and no AML oversight. Crypto businesses wishing to operate with any Lebanese legal nexus currently have no compliant pathway. International exchanges accessed by Lebanese users operate entirely under foreign jurisdictions. Lebanese courts have applied enforcement actions in specific cases, particularly in the context of FATF grey-list pressure on AML and terrorism financing risk.

Why No Framework

Three structural factors have blocked framework development. First, the 2019 banking and currency collapse redirected all regulatory and legislative capacity toward deposit recovery, banking restructuring, and IMF programme negotiations. Second, Lebanon’s FATF grey-list action plan, adopted in October 2024, prioritises AML effectiveness, beneficial ownership registers, DNFBP supervision, and asset recovery, leaving no near-term legislative space for VASP authorisation. Third, Circular 331’s dormancy eliminated the startup and fintech ecosystem that would otherwise have created domestic pressure for a licensing regime. The current reform government has prioritised banking law, banking secrecy reform, and AML credibility as prerequisites for any IMF programme, placing crypto licensing in a second tier.

What Operators Should Know

The 2025 Binance meeting and inter-ministerial committee represent Lebanon’s first serious public commitment to building a digital asset framework. Operators monitoring Lebanon should watch for formal consultation documents from the inter-ministerial committee and any BDL intermediate circular signalling a shift in supervisory approach. Lebanon’s FATF grey-list exit timeline will shape the pace of any framework: the FATF action plan must show demonstrated progress before international creditors and IMF negotiations can advance, and crypto regulation is not a listed action-plan item, meaning it competes for attention with higher-priority AML reforms. No timeline for VASP legislation has been announced. Until a framework is enacted, operating a crypto business with a Lebanese entity or marketing to Lebanese residents carries significant regulatory and reputational risk.

Market Characteristics

Adoption Patterns

Lebanon has one of the highest per-capita rates of stablecoin usage in the Middle East and North Africa region. Tether on the Tron network functions as a parallel medium of exchange for cross-border transfers, savings outside the frozen banking system, salary payments, and many retail transactions. Peer-to-peer over-the-counter brokers operate informally via Telegram groups and physical venues, with negotiated spreads and no regulatory oversight. Lebanon consistently ranks in the top 20 countries worldwide by crypto transaction volume per capita. The estimated number of Lebanese crypto users reached approximately 430,000 by 2025, generating around $7 million in market revenue. Physical security risks for brokers handling large balances have been publicly reported.

Industry Focus

The market is informal rather than institutional. There are no licensed domestic exchanges or custodians; activity flows through offshore platforms, peer-to-peer brokerage, and direct self-custody. The dollar-pegged stablecoin segment dominates retail volume, with USDT serving functions that in other markets are fulfilled by bank accounts and payment rails. Mining is not a meaningful sector given severe electricity infrastructure constraints. Bitcoin and Ethereum are present in the market but play smaller roles relative to stablecoins compared to most emerging markets, reflecting the specific dynamics of a currency-collapse use case. Remittance flows, historically a major driver of Lebanon’s economy, are increasingly routed through stablecoin channels to avoid frozen bank accounts and capital controls.

Regulatory Evolution

Lebanon was placed on the FATF grey list on 25 October 2024 following its MENAFATF mutual evaluation, which assessed the country’s AML and counter-financing-of-terrorism regime based on an on-site visit in July to August 2022. The seven-point action plan covers risk assessment, mutual legal assistance, DNFBP compliance, beneficial ownership, FIU effectiveness, money laundering prosecutions, and asset recovery. Lebanon deferred progress reporting at the February 2025, June 2025, and October 2025 FATF plenaries. Lebanon remained on the grey list as of the February 13, 2026 FATF update. The new BDL Governor Karim Souaid, who took office on April 4, 2025, pledged to strengthen AML enforcement and reduce Lebanon’s parallel economy as a condition of grey-list exit. A July 2025 BDL circular prohibited licensed institutions from dealing with a paramilitary-linked financial entity, reflecting the weight of international sanctions in shaping Lebanon’s financial enforcement environment. The Minister of Economy’s engagement with Binance in 2025 and the formation of an inter-ministerial digital asset committee represent the first formal steps toward a regulated crypto perimeter, though no draft law has been published.