At Karachi’s 13th Literature Festival, State Bank of Pakistan’s governor Raza Bakir grabbed an opportunity to talk about the regulation of cryptocurrency in Pakistan saying that it doesn’t match the objectives of SBP such as Financial Inclusion and Innovation.
SBP governor sees the technology behind cryptocurrency- the Distributed Ledger, as “absolutely useful technology” whose technological aspects have the potential to offer the world a safe financial system it deserves.
However, Raza Bakir showed uncertainty from the regulator’s perspective on the use of crypto such as Bitcoin which might have some risks attached to it as a new technology and which many Pakistanis want SBP to allow its usage, and transferring it abroad.
Relevant to the technology, the SBP governor raised the concern on the visibility of the crypto transactions which is a huge area of concern for the regulator and may lead the crimes in areas such as human rights violation, human trafficking & money laundering.
The governor stated their top priority of Financial Inclusion is to limit the misuse of financial systems of Pakistan in any crime “especially because Pakistan is a country that is on the grey list of FATF” stated Mr Bakir.
Things are not easy for Pakistan after the global finance watchdog FATF has put strict monitoring on financial transactions occurring into and from Pakistan which are underway since 2018 when the country had been used in terrorist financing.
Crypto is not yet illegal within the country which is why many Pakistanis seem to have a penchant for crypto trading, sharing trading insights on social media platforms, and actively joining discussions on discerning the crypto market for achieving high monetary gains in the digital market.
Last month addressing the Annual Investment Forum in Riyadh, the SBP governor stated his stance on cryptocurrency noting that the benefits public could reap from the technology are less than the potential useability of the technology in crimes and therefore may lead the nation to devastating consequences.
Pakistan is not alone in the crypto adoption scenario and joins other financially advanced economies such as China, India, and Russia who are against the covert and decentralized financial system.
