High stakes have been put into crypto by Pakistanis which exceed US$ 20 Billion. Not even the Pakistani central bank i.e. State Bank of Pakistan has such a huge amount lying in its reserve.
Bitcoin value is once again on the run for the past two days and gains are coming in intervals. Today’s gains for Bitcoins were more than US$ 2,500 and, presently, Bitcoin is being traded at a price of US$ 51,146.
If someone was thinking that Pakistani is a backward country where investors have no interest in cryptocurrencies, then it is a wrong assumption. In fact, Pakistanis have invested huge funds into cryptocurrencies which are apparently more than those lying in the country’s reserves. According to a news report, the global crypto economy in 2020-21 has acquired more than US$ 20 Billion from Pakistani investors alone. This intriguing but interesting fact was revealed in a report compiled by the Policy Advisory Board of Pakistan.
The compilers noted in their report that the most popular digital currency in Pakistan is Bitcoin. In 2020-21 alone, Pakistan’s crypto industry grew by more than 700%. This very fact stemming from Pakistan was duly noted by crypto research firm, Chainalysis, in its latest index called “Global Crypto Adoption”. The index puts Pakistan in third place amongst those countries where crypto adoption was the highest during 2020-21. The top adopters include countries such as India and Vietnam respectively.
The investment from Pakistan would be much higher than this as the report takes note of the investment emerging for one year only. Most Pakistani crypto investors are in fact acquiring digital assets through P2P investment which are usually untraceable. Again, the fact was noted by the top newspaper of Pakistan namely “Business Recorder”. The newspaper suggested in a news item that there is a lot of grey area in Pakistan in respect of digital currencies.
The newspaper report might be true because Pakistan has zero policy and/or regulations covering cryptocurrency investments. State Bank of Pakistan, which is Pakistan’s central bank, too is not willing to encourage investments in digital currencies. However, there are few people from Pakistani social media who are trying to convince the Pakistani Government to embrace cryptocurrencies.
There is also a case pending before a High Court of Pakistan which involves the subject of cryptocurrencies. However, the case is of a complaint nature yet the Court has become keen on understanding cryptocurrencies. In fact, the Court has summoned top authorities of the Pakistani Government to apprise the Court of what is this cryptocurrency.
However, the truth is that Pakistanis are not unaware of cryptocurrencies. They do understand the concept very well. If they cannot buy cryptocurrencies in Pakistan then they are opting to acquire them from overseas. Most Pakistani crypto owners have bought their cryptocurrencies mainly from Dubai. The government of Pakistan is missing out on the opportunity of making some extra money only if it had legalized crypto trading in the country.