On a random day in 2018, Shafin, then a university student, found himself staring at a screen in disbelief. A few crypto coins he had left idly in a digital wallet had jumped in value. "I made Tk50,000 just like that," he recalled.
That same year, the Bangladeshi government issued stern warnings against using Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency. But for Shafin and many like him, the digital gold rush had already begun.
Arman's story is similar. Last year, he spent just Tk13,000 on cryptocurrencies and ended up earning nearly six times that amount. "I did not even have to do much, just a few simple tasks here and there — like sharing a post, following a page, etc," he said.
These personal stories reveal Bitcoin's strange status in Bangladesh—banned in practice, yet wildly popular.
According to the Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, Bangladesh ranks 35th in the world in terms of cryptocurrency users, despite not being legally recognised.
