When you try to trade crypto and get blocked, it’s rarely a technical glitch—it’s a geo-block, a restriction placed on crypto access based on your physical location. Also known as geofencing, it’s how governments and exchanges control who can use Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any token based on where you live. This isn’t about slow internet or app crashes. It’s about laws. In some countries, you can’t even open an account. In others, you can trade—but only during certain hours, or only with specific coins.
Take Iran, a country where mining crypto is legal but using it as money is nearly impossible. Also known as Islamic Republic of Iran, it’s one of the few places where Tether froze wallets, trading hours are capped, and international exchanges refuse to serve users. Or look at Japan, where the Financial Services Agency enforces the strictest exchange rules on Earth. Also known as FSA-regulated market, it forces exchanges to store 95% of funds offline, requires local licenses, and now reclassifies many tokens as securities. These aren’t random policies—they’re deliberate geo-blocks designed to control risk, prevent money laundering, or protect domestic financial systems.
Geo-blocks don’t just affect exchanges. They kill airdrops. If you’re in a sanctioned region, you won’t get the WMX tokens from Wombex, or the $3ULL from PLAYA3ULL—even if you did everything right. Platforms like CoinMarketCap and others filter users by IP, and if your location doesn’t match their approved list, you’re locked out. It’s not a bug. It’s a feature built into the system.
And it’s not just about being banned. Sometimes, it’s about being invisible. In places like North Korea, crypto isn’t blocked—it’s weaponized. IT workers use crypto laundering to bypass sanctions, turning digital assets into military funding. Meanwhile, everyday users in Algeria or Russia face vague penalties, not outright bans, making compliance a guessing game. The same token you can trade freely in Singapore might land you in legal trouble in Nigeria or Argentina.
What you’ll find in these posts isn’t theory. It’s real cases: how Iranian traders lost access to Tether, how Japan’s 2025 FIEA update changed everything for token holders, why you can’t claim a fake AFEN or FAN8 airdrop from certain countries, and how North Korean hackers exploit geo-blind spots to move billions. These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re symptoms of a global system where your zip code decides whether you’re a trader, a criminal, or just out of luck.
Bybit uses geofencing and basic IP checks to block users from restricted countries like the U.S. Many try to bypass this with VPNs, but doing so risks account freezes and lost funds. Here's what actually happens when you try.
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