Short answers, pulled from the story.
Bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador under the Bitcoin Law, which was passed on the 8th of June 2021 and took effect on the 7th of September 2021. In the first month after the law took effect, 12 percent of Salvadoran consumers used the cryptocurrency, though 93 percent of companies surveyed reported receiving no bitcoin payments.
Nepal bans the use of any cryptocurrency outright. Algeria prohibited the purchase, sale, use, and holding of virtual currency in its official journal of the 28th of December 2017. China imposed a complete ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining that took effect on the 24th of September 2021. Bangladesh has warned that users could be jailed under anti-money laundering laws.
The EU has not passed specific legislation classifying bitcoin as a currency, but in October 2015 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that exchanging traditional currencies for bitcoin is exempt from VAT, treating it as a means of payment. The EU adopted new cryptocurrency regulation and a new directive in 2024, and plans to ban privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Monero and Zcash by 2027.
The Internal Revenue Service taxes bitcoin as property. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission classified it as a commodity in September 2015, and the U.S. Treasury classified it as a convertible decentralized virtual currency in 2013. Cryptocurrency exchanges and money transmitters doing substantial business in the U.S. must register with FinCEN as money services businesses and comply with anti-money laundering requirements.
Russia banned domestic cryptocurrency payments but as of July 2024 regulates mining and permits businesses to use cryptocurrencies in international trade. The country's stance has shifted repeatedly: the Central Bank proposed a full ban in January 2022, the government reversed course in February 2022 and announced it would legalize and regulate cryptocurrencies, and the current framework keeps domestic payment use prohibited.
Japan regulates cryptocurrency exchange businesses under the Payment Services Act, as updated in April 2017. Exchanges must register with the government, keep records, implement security measures, protect customers, and comply with anti-money laundering law. The Act defines cryptocurrency as a property value stored electronically, not legal tender, and minors and all foreigners are prohibited from trading cryptocurrencies.