Afghanistan’s government, under the Taliban’s control, arrested eight cryptocurrency traders in Herat, a city on the Northwest side of the country.

One of the crypto traders who prefers to stay anonymous told crypto.news that the Taliban arrested him and seven others for using crypto in May. They were imprisoned for 28 days in Herat’s central prison, he added.

It’s important to note that the Central Bank of Afghanistan banned using cryptocurrencies in August 2022 — closing more than 30 crypto-related businesses in the region. The government called digital currencies and Forex trading “haram,” an Arabic term used for forbidden things in Islam.

Another crypto dealer says that he earned a small commission of between 1% and 2% for selling USDT to traders and could barely feed his family. He says: 

“Now I don’t know what to do. The prices of goods are very high, and the economy is on the brink of a collapse while there’s nothing else to do.”

He added that selling USDT might put his life in danger, but “there’s no other way.” 

Both traders claim the Taliban didn’t seize any of their crypto assets. However, people familiar with the matter told crypto.news that a group of cryptocurrency dealers were recently arrested, with the government taking all their digital holdings. 

People familiar with the matter said that the government might put some of the crypto traders to six months in jail. 

Another individual claimed that before the Taliban banned crypto in the country, he used to receive his family’s expenses from his brother who lives in the U.S. via Bitcoin (BTC) and USDT. Now that cryptocurrencies are “forbidden,” it sometimes takes weeks for him to receive and withdraw the money. He added: 

“It’s all because this country, with thousands of years of history, doesn’t have access to standard banks and bans its only way out.”

Blockchain project Polkadot is under fire after revealing $37 million in expenses on the marketing budget, triggering criticism and scrutiny from its community.

Polkadot, a sharded multi-chain network founded by the Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, is facing backlash after disclosing $37 million in marketing expenses, leading to criticism and scrutiny from its community.

In its H1 2024 treasury report, Polkadot said that nearly $40 million was spent on “outreach,” saying that under outreach, the company describes “every spend that is intended to attract new users, developers, and businesses into the ecosystem.”

“This spans from advertising and media, online and offline community building and events, to big conferences and business development.”

Polkadot

Of the total marketing budget, over $20 million was allocated to advertising, while $10 million worth of DOT tokens were used for sponsorships. These sponsorships included sports deals, collaborations with a race car driver, and a partnership with an e-sports tournament organizer. For comparison, the report noted that Polkadot spent $23 million on developments in the first half of the year.

The marketing expenses quickly triggered outrage within the blockchain community, with accusations of centralization and frivolous financial campaigns. Victor Ji, co-founder of Manta Network, expressed his dissatisfaction in an X thread, calling Polkadot a “highly toxic ecosystem that lacks any real value for web3” and accusing it of discrimination and lack of support for network-built projects.

Another core developer at Polkadot, using the alias @seunlanlege, also criticized the project’s approach, saying it’s “insane to me how much money the Polkadot treasury is wasting on misplaced marketing,” and drawing parallels between Polkadot and the bankrupt FTX crypto exchange.

The report noted that at the current spending rate, Polkadot’s treasury has about “two years of runway left,” while acknowledging the unpredictable nature of crypto-denominated treasuries. As of now, Gavin Wood has not made any public statements on the matter.