Syed Amin Ul Haque, the Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications, spoke out against the country’s cryptocurrency ban on Wednesday.
The Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications told the media that the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications opposes any ban that impedes progress.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are both active in the cryptocurrency issue, according to the minister, who added that the ministry is ready to provide technical assistance if both institutes give their approval.
A committee is also appointed by the Sindh High Court suggested that cryptocurrencies and associated activities be banned entirely in the country. The proposal was just the latest in a string of blows for cryptocurrencies in recent weeks.
It’s also worth noting that the Financial Investigation Agency (FIA) recently launched an investigation into a mega-scam involving 11 applications that were utilized by fraudsters to steal over Rs. 17 billion from Pakistani investors.
On December 2021, FIA had received complaint against at least 11 mobile applications which had stopped working over a period of time and allegedly defrauded their billions of Pakistani rupees. MCX, HFC, HTFOX, FXCOPY, OKIMINI, BB001, AVG86C, BX66, UG, TASKTOK and 91fp were the identified apps.
He expressed remorse over the adoption of an advance tax on the telecom sector, despite his opposition in the cabinet and parliament. The Finance Ministry is now in discussions about withholding tax, according to Haque.
According to the minister, the telecom sector’s withholding tax should be reduced from 15% to 10%.
TikTok is also preparing to open an office in Pakistan, according to the ministry. We’d like to include Twitter, Facebook, and PUBG as well, he said.
He described smartphone production in Pakistan as a “revolutionary” effort. We hope that large corporations will invest in Pakistan.
To read our blog on “PTA is planning to block all cryptocurrency websites in the near future,” click here.
