FATF Blacklist: Which Crypto Countries Are Blocked and Why It Matters

When you hear FATF blacklist, a list of countries identified by the Financial Action Task Force for weak anti-money laundering controls, especially in crypto. Also known as the "grey list", it's not just a warning—it's a financial lockdown. If your country is on it, banks cut ties, exchanges shut down, and your ability to move crypto becomes risky or impossible.

The FATF travel rule, a global standard requiring crypto exchanges to share sender and receiver info for transfers over $1,000 is the main reason countries get flagged. Places like Myanmar and El Salvador don’t enforce it. Myanmar bans crypto entirely but still sees underground trading. El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender but refuses to track transactions properly. Both are treated as high-risk, even if their reasons differ. Meanwhile, places like Malta and New York follow strict rules—BitLicense and VFA licenses force exchanges to log every transfer. That’s why you’ll see posts here about account closure penalties in Myanmar, where banks freeze accounts for trading USDT or Bitcoin, and why BitLicense requirements, the strict crypto business license in New York exist: they’re the opposite side of the same coin.

What’s missing from most headlines? The real impact. If your country is on the FATF blacklist, you can’t use major exchanges. You can’t cash out. You can’t even open a bank account linked to crypto. That’s why people in Myanmar still trade—but in dark corners. That’s why El Salvador holds over 6,100 BTC as a reserve, not as currency. They’re betting on long-term value, not compliance. The crypto compliance, the system of rules that forces exchanges to know who you are and where your money came from isn’t about control—it’s about survival. If you’re trading crypto today, you’re already affected by this list, whether you know it or not. Below, you’ll find real cases of what happens when governments ignore the rules, when exchanges vanish because of them, and how some projects try to work around them—without getting shut down.