Libyan authorities intensify crackdown on cryptocurrency mining

Libyan authorities have intensified their crackdown on the cryptocurrency mining industry. In November 2025, prosecutors indicted nine people operating Bitcoin mining equipment at a steel plant in Zlitan, sentencing them to three years in prison and ordering the confiscation of their equipment and the recovery of illicit profits. Despite the Central Bank of Libya banning cryptocurrency transactions in 2018 due to concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing, such mining activities have continued.