Key takeaways:
- A senior government official has informed parliamentarians that the Pakistani government will not obstruct cryptocurrency ventures. The statement comes as a regional high court has called on the federal government to regulate cryptocurrencies and has formed a committee to investigate the issue in the coming months.
Pakistan’s Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Muhammad Khan, acknowledged cryptocurrencies as a legitimate idea while speaking to members of the National Assembly this week. He previously stated that the government had no objections if the Pakistani youth would use the opportunity to use this caller technology.
According to the Daily Times, Khan made the remarks in response to a calling out statement made at a small site of parliament on Wednesday about the lack of a regulatory model for cryptocurrencies in the country.
The minister stated that while the federal government did not oppose the law, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had certain concerns that needed to be addressed.
Officials from the government indicated that the monetary authority is now evaluating issues that should be brought to the Finance Committee’s attention. “SBP says we should proceed very cautiously in this regard,” Ali Khan continued.
The path has shifted three years after the National Bank of Pakistan imposed a cryptocurrency prohibition. Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, pakcoin, onecoin, and ICO tokens are not legal money, according to a statement published in the spring of 2018, and any transactions with them, including holding, transfer, and transaction, are illegal.
The banking institution also said at the time that no company or person was authorised to issue, acquire, sell, or exchange the digital currency. However, the SBP’s top executive, Reza Baqir, announced in April that the regulator was studying cryptocurrencies and their potential for bringing off-the-books transactions into a regulatory framework.
Regional High Court has directed the government to report on cryptocurrency regulations:
The High Court of Sindh Province, Pakistan’s top judicial authority in southern Pakistan, requested the Islamabad government to enact cryptocurrency laws once more on Wednesday. It also formed a committee led by the Federal Minister of Finance, which was given three months to make a report on the issue.
The court of law insisted that steps be taken to control cryptocurrencies in consultation with all stakeholders, including the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan , the SBP, the Ministry of Law and Justice, and the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, during a hearing on a petition challenging the crypto ban.
Many Pakistanis have been interested in cryptocurrencies as a result of its growing worldwide appeal. Online cryptocurrency exchanges are becoming increasingly popular among Pakistani traders, with the number of crypto app downloads often exceeding that of the country’s largest bank.
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