Based on a month-old request submitted through the Cyber Crime Reporting Centre (CCRC) in Islamabad, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has confiscated bank accounts of 1,064 people.
According to the sources, on September 27, 2021, a regular inquiry was opened under RE-955/2021 against the profiles of 1,064 people who had carried out 2,923 transactions totalling Rs. 51 million using a variety of online exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, and Coinmama.
Multiple banks, according to sources, have blocked credit cards linked to bank accounts that showed signs of cryptocurrency transactions. Individuals who had been using Binance P2P to buy or sell cryptocurrency had their bank accounts suspended as well.
The FIA has been looking into the aforementioned digital transactions for months, demonstrating how strict the federal watchdog’s standards have become as the country progressively adjusts to the prospect of storing fiat money by swapping it for cryptocurrency.
The sale and acquisition of virtual assets is illegal in principle, according to the State Bank of Pakistan’s Circular No. 3 of the Banking Policy and Regulation Department (BPRD) dated 6 April 2018.
Anyone who buys or sells cryptocurrencies using Pakistani banks or cards may have their account suspended indefinitely as a result of these disclosures.
Historically, Pakistan has been among the top 15 countries in the world for digital currency adoption, despite the fact that the problem of regulating digital currencies remains unsolved.
According to Chainalysis, Pakistan received more than USD 1.5 billion in crypto-cash last year, with many analysts expecting that if crypto transactions were facilitated and regulated, it could have been considerably higher in 2020-2021.
To read our blog on Govt. of Pakistan has no plans to legalize Cryptocurrency, Fawad Chaudhry, click here.