Is Bitcoin Mining Legal in Your Country?

If you’re planning to start your own Bitcoin mining operation, it’s important to know whether or not you’ll be breaking any laws. However, it’s also smart to know what the laws are in your country and understand their origins so that you can make your decision with an educated perspective. Read on to find out more about the legality of Bitcoin mining in various countries around the world.


What is Bitcoin Mining



Bitcoins are created through a process called mining, which is how new bitcoins are made. Miners use computers to solve complex mathematical problems with algorithms. Once you solve one of these math problems and verify it, you can receive bitcoins as payment for helping keep bitcoin transactions secure by making sure no one spends bitcoins they don’t own.


How Does it Work

How it works is, as you may have guessed, that people can mine Bitcoins by lending their computer power to verify and record payments into a public ledger. The general process of mining involves calculating a cryptographic hash of all of the recent transactions on its network. If your calculation comes up with a result that’s less than or equal to (or sometimes greater than) some predetermined number, you get paid for performing that service.

Countries with Open Laws

Depending on your country, there may be opportunities to legally earn digital currency. The first step is to determine if digital currency is legal. Some countries have open laws that make it easier to trade digital currency. These countries include Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. If you live in one of these countries, you can search CoinMarketCap for a list of exchanges where you can buy and sell crypto assets with confidence.


Countries where Legality Varies by Region

One of bitcoin’s main strengths is its decentralized, global nature. There are more than 100 countries around world with access to bitcoin markets. Yet each country has its own rules and regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies. This can cause confusion over what is legal where—and to whom. Still, there are some general guidelines you can use for most countries around world. We’ve listed a few popular countries below


Countries Where Miners are Not Legally Protected



Venezuela, Argentina, Russia and Zimbabwe are a few countries where bitcoin mining is still illegal. In Venezuela, only citizens can mine and transact with bitcoin. Since most miners are based outside of Venezuela, they may be arrested if they sell their bitcoins to Venezuelans or use them to buy things within Venezuela’s borders. The same goes for Argentina: local residents have been caught hacking foreign computers in an attempt to obtain free crypto and make quick profits on unsuspecting victims.