Crypto-currencies in Pakistan
New regulations on cryptocurrency might come in action after the State Bank’s ban on crypto-money following the shut-down of Pakistani bitcoin exchange, Urdubit permanently.
Bitcoin is a form of digital money which isn’t ran by a bank or organization. The bitcoin transactions are recorded in ‘blockchain’ and not in ledgers. Whereas, the blockchain that is public holds the record of every transactions taking place.
Tracing back to the very first Pakistani Bitcoin Exchange “Urdubit”, established in October 2014. Their target audience were freelancers as the freelancer market was successful in Pakistan back in 2016. Urdubit, reported to have shut down after the announcement by the State Bank of Pakistan ‘to ban all sorts of platforms financing digital money’. The platform coerced the customers to withdraw their crypto and fiat money fast.
The barring on crypto-money was enforced without any official government instructions regardless of the absence of the exclusive law on crypto-money. After the bar for almost a year, it was reported on the website of Business Recorder, that a recommendation was sent to Finance Minister Asad Umer by Pakistan’s Intelligence agency. The recommendations also comprise procedures for the execution of the law in December, 2019.
Throughout the country there’s an illegal trade of cryptocurrencies, which needs to be stopped. Pakistan is in pursuit to reduce considerate levels of crimes such as terrorist financing and money laundering. Crypto-money institutions in Pakistan will introduce a licensing scheme for the development.
A meeting associated to the regulations of the developments took place at Pakistan State of Bank in the presence pf finance minister Asad Umer and governor of the bank, Tariq Bajwa. Finance Action Task Force (FATF) encourages Pakistan to quickly accomplish its action plan under the timeline of December 2019.