Cambodia Banking Restrictions on Crypto Transactions: What You Need to Know in 2025

Since early 2025, Cambodia has enforced some of the strictest crypto banking rules in Southeast Asia. If you're trying to buy Bitcoin, send USDT, or use crypto for remittances in Cambodia, you’re not just fighting high fees-you’re fighting a legal wall. The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) doesn’t just discourage crypto. It blocks it-unless you’re one of two licensed players, and even then, the rules are tight.

What’s Actually Banned?

Cambodian banks can’t hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any unbacked cryptocurrency on their books. Not even a single dollar’s worth. That’s not a suggestion. It’s written into law under Prakas B7-024-735, which took effect in January 2025. The NBC divided crypto into two groups: Group 1 and Group 2.

Group 1 includes tokenized securities and stablecoins fully backed by real assets-like USDT or USDC if they meet NBC’s reserve audit rules. Banks can touch these, but only with prior approval and capped at 15% of their tier 1 capital. Group 2? That’s everything else: Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Solana, you name it. Banks are forbidden from touching it. Period.

This isn’t about fear of innovation. It’s about control. The NBC wants to avoid another Thailand-style collapse, like the 2024 Bitkub exchange failure that wiped out $100 million in investor funds. Cambodia’s banking system is only $28 billion total. One big crash could shake the whole economy.

How Did We Get Here?

The crackdown didn’t happen overnight. In 2018, the NBC, police, and securities regulator issued a joint warning: crypto is not legal tender. By 2019, they’d gone further-banning unlicensed trading outright. But enforcement was messy. People kept using Binance P2P. Remittances flowed through unregulated apps. Then came international pressure.

In September 2024, the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC sanctioned Ly Yong Phat and his L.Y.P. Group for running forced labor camps tied to crypto scams. That’s when Cambodia realized: if they didn’t clean up, they’d be slapped with global sanctions too. So they doubled down. In December 2024, they passed the new Prakas. In early 2025, they blocked 16 offshore exchanges-including Binance, Coinbase, and OKX-from being accessed inside Cambodia.

The goal? Make crypto activity traceable, licensed, and contained.

Who Can Still Do Crypto in Cambodia?

Only two entities have the green light: Royal Group Exchange and platforms built on Bakong.

Royal Group Exchange is the only licensed crypto service provider. If you want to convert riel to USDT or vice versa, this is your only legal path. Users report a 3-day verification process, a $5,000 daily limit, and a 0.8% fee. It’s slow, but it works.

Bakong, Cambodia’s own blockchain-based payment system, launched in 2020 with help from Japan. It’s not crypto-it’s a central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform. As of Q4 2024, 65% of Cambodians use it. That’s 12.4 million people. But Bakong doesn’t connect to Bitcoin or Ethereum. It connects riel to riel, and US dollars to US dollars, through banks. It’s fast, cheap, and government-controlled. The NBC says this is the future. Not open blockchain. Not decentralized finance. Just a better version of mobile banking.

Why Is This So Strict Compared to Neighbors?

Thailand lets banks hold up to 20% of capital in Bitcoin. Singapore lets exchanges sell Bitcoin futures to retail investors. Vietnam lets banks custody crypto assets. Cambodia? No. Not even close.

Cambodia’s 15% exposure limit for Group 1 assets is higher than the Basel Committee’s recommended 2% for risky crypto. But the fact that Group 2 is completely banned makes it the most restrictive in the region. Why? Because Cambodia’s economy is smaller, more vulnerable, and less prepared for volatility. The NBC’s priority isn’t innovation-it’s survival.

That comes at a cost. Cross-border payments take 3-5 days. Remittance fees are still 6.8%-higher than Laos, where crypto corridors are legal. The World Bank estimates Cambodia could lose $1.2 billion in fintech investment by 2027 because of this stance.

What’s It Like for Regular People?

If you’re not a business or a licensed provider, crypto in Cambodia is a minefield.

Users on Reddit’s r/Cambodia report Wing Money accounts frozen for three $50 P2P trades. Trustpilot reviews for Wing Money show a 2.1/5 rating-78% of complaints are about crypto paperwork. One user spent 14 days locked out because the NBC’s system flagged his transactions as “suspicious.” He didn’t know he was breaking the law.

On Telegram, the “Cambodia Crypto Traders” group of 12,400 members has 63% negative sentiment. People are angry-not because they want to gamble on Bitcoin, but because they can’t send money home to their families without paying 7% fees or waiting weeks.

There are exceptions. AgriTech startup RiceX raised $2 million in stablecoin funding through NBC-approved channels in December 2024. They waited 10 days for approval. But they got certainty. No risk of future crackdowns. For businesses, that’s worth it.

How Are Banks Handling the Rules?

Getting licensed as a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) takes 90-120 days. You need 47 documents: stress tests for 80% crypto price drops, AML systems, cold storage for 95% of client assets, real-time monitoring for FATF red flags. And you have to integrate with Bakong-a process that costs $350,000 and takes 6-8 months.

ANZ Royal Bank wants to offer crypto services to $200 million in client demand. But NBC capped them at $15 million because of the 15% capital rule. They’re stuck.

Staff training is another bottleneck. Every employee at a CASP must complete 120 hours of certified training through the Cambodia Institute of Banking and Finance. That’s a 6-8 month wait just to hire someone.

And support? The NBC’s Cryptoasset Help Desk handles only 17 queries a day across 58 licensed banks. Response time? 72 hours. Good luck getting help when your funds are frozen.

Is Crypto Adoption Falling?

Yes. In 2021, 4.7% of Cambodians owned crypto. By 2024, that dropped to 2.1%. That’s not because people lost interest. It’s because the legal doors shut.

Meanwhile, Bakong usage is rising. It’s not crypto. It’s not blockchain in the decentralized sense. It’s a state-run digital payment network. And the NBC is betting everything on it. Governor Chea Chanto said in November 2024: “We won’t recognize private cryptocurrencies until Bakong is stable.”

That’s the real story. Cambodia isn’t rejecting technology. It’s rejecting uncontrolled technology. It wants to own the system.

What’s Next?

The NBC’s 2025-2026 roadmap includes mandatory real-time monitoring for all crypto-fiat conversions. P2P platforms will face even tighter restrictions. No bank will be allowed to process transactions with unlicensed offshore exchanges-even if they’re based in South Korea or the U.S.

But here’s the irony: despite all this, illicit flows are growing. South Korean exchange Bithumb processed $8.93 million in USDT transactions with Cambodia’s sanctioned Huione Guarantee in 2024-a 1,400x jump from 2023. The U.S. Treasury is watching. More sanctions may be coming.

The NBC’s strategy is clear: control the flow, punish the chaos, and wait for Bakong to become the only option. But if people can’t send money home cheaply, or if businesses can’t raise capital, they’ll find a way around it. The question isn’t whether crypto will disappear in Cambodia. It’s whether the country can afford to keep blocking it.