Nepal ordered ban on crypto websites; How pioneers will be affected by this decision

Pioneers (Pi Network miners) from Nepal are having trouble, as the government is rumored to have ordered network providers to block access to websites relating to cryptocurrencies.

How is this government decision going to affect pioneers?

The decision will have a detrimental effect on Pi Network users in that “the mining App will stop working once the decision is enforced” and unless the government decides otherwise, no pioneer in Nepal will be allowed to mine Pi once more.

However, all of the already mined Pi will be preserved until such time as the government decides to lift the restriction. Pioneers may not be able to complete KYC up until that point, which may hinder their migration to the Mainnet if it occurs during that time.

The government’s order

The government of Nepal has once more taken action to obstruct cryptocurrency-related operations. The Nepalese Telecommunications Authority issued a warning on January 8 ordering all internet service providers (ISPs) to refrain from administering or operating “websites, apps, or online networks” that are associated to cryptocurrencies.

The nation’s national bank outlawed cryptocurrency trade and mining in September 2021. The Nepali telecommunications authorities asked the general public for information in April 2022 about anyone engaging in prohibited activities, such as bitcoin.

In the most recent warning, ISPs and email service providers are threatened with legal action if any cryptocurrency-related behavior occurs on their platforms. According to the letter, unlawful virtual currency transactions in the country “are rising in recent days.”

Despite the restriction, Nepal is ahead of countries like the United Kingdom and Indonesia in Chainalysis’s 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, where it is rated 16th.

According to a research by the Library of Congress, Nepal is one of nine nations—the others are China, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Qatar, and Tunisia—that have implemented complete prohibitions on cryptocurrencies.