Informed that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Ministry of IT & Telecom have begun work to forbid the use of cryptocurrencies in the nation, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance met today at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwala.
The committee gave instructions to the authorities to restrict websites and services using cryptocurrencies in Pakistan.
Dr. Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, assured the committee that Pakistan will never legalize cryptocurrencies.
She said that because the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has placed tight restrictions on the utility and feasibility of cryptocurrencies, Pakistan would not permit their use as a means of exchange.
Senate Committee on Cryptocurrencies Ban in Pakistan
The worldwide crypto market valuation decreased from $2.8 trillion to $1.2 trillion, according to information provided to the Senate Committee.
Salim Mandviwala, the committee’s chairman, said that Pakistanis had invested billions of dollars in the disputed financial product.
The committee was made aware that a probe was presently ongoing and that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) of the Federal Board of Revenue regularly monitored Pakistani cryptocurrency investments.
More information was provided on the matter by Sohail Javaad, director of the central bank’s payment systems department, who said that more than 16,000 distinct types of cryptocurrencies have been developed so far.
Other SBP representatives told the Senate panel that investing in cryptocurrency carries a significant degree of risk. The trading medium was termed a “total fraud” by officials, who predicted that Pakistan would never legalize it.
The standing committee ordered authorities to ban the usage of cryptocurrency in Pakistan after lengthy discussion on the subject.
Several regulatory interventions have shaken the cryptocurrency sector in Pakistan over the past several years as local authorities once more seem to be stepping up their efforts to combat illegal sources of funding.
It is interesting that SBP has been researching cryptocurrencies internally as part of its future monetary policies for the nation.
It is now highly questionable whether or not the country will see digital assets regularized at all, despite optimism that a policy shift towards embracing them as legal tender last year had raised.
To read our blog on “SBP lacks details on cryptocurrency trading by Pakistanis,” click here.
