You must have heard that media personalities and influencers usually promote their own products or post content which can mostly help them earn, but we’ve never quite heard about an influencer who went to Court to get relief for his country.
How and why did an influencer went to Court to get cryptocurrencies unbanned and helped push Pakistan to third on the list of top countries adopting digital currencies?
Speaking of this public figure specifically, he has over four million followers on Facebook and more than a million on YouTube. This influencer not only plays his role in making cyptocurrencies famous amongst the Urdu/Hindi speaking crowd but also went to Court to get it unbanned.
How did this guy really help Pakistan become the 3rd most active country in adopting cryptocurrencies?
It all started with Waqar Zaka. In 2014, he announced his retirement from hosting television shows and made it clear that he will only work through social media platforms for the foreseeable future. In the years that followed, people regularly asked him how he was still managing to make as much money as he did from Living on the Edge. He revealed that a social media platform called Bit Landers helped him make as much since the platform was paying him in Bitcoin for promoting crypto-related content.
Waqar’s most important and recognized work was entering warzone areas, taking a few refugees onboard and helping them earn through Bitcoin. Just for reference, a YouTube video titled “Waqar Zaka teaching refugees cryptocurrency” was recognized as a part of the Blockchain for Good initiative and because of this, various blockchain conferences invited Zaka as a guest speaker to speak on topics like “How to use social media for promoting ICO or crypto” or how to “Blockchain for Good with Waqar Zaka”.
Today was the day when I got invitation, 2018, you can only become an expert in crypto if you hang around with the experts. Proud to be the first Pakistani invited as a guest speaker at one of the biggest Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Conference in San Francisco https://t.co/v21AxUSkzK
— Waqar Zaka (@ZakaWaqar) May 27, 2021
Fighting Resistance at Homebase
While cryptocurrencies were having a hard time in Pakistan, Waqar tried finding a lawyer who would fight a court case against the local ban but after struggling for one year, he decided to file a petition in a Pakistani court without a lawyer. For two years, Waqar kept going to the court, giving presentations explaining to judges why Bitcoin is the future, why State Bank of Pakistan cannot ban Bitcoin, and why authorities should not arrest people for holding Bitcoin.
Waqar Zaka uses easy and simple ways to promote complex blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in general. From 2015 onwards, he published youtube videos about the price of Bitcoin, requesting people to buy at least one BTC, and quite suddenly, people started following him even more.
Finally, in December 2020, a Pakistani court ordered concerned authorities to abstain from arresting Bitcoin holders unless they are guilty of laundering money. This was the time when Zaka started openly promoting and pushing people to trade cryptocurrencies, as he was aware of the Bitcoin halving cycle and how the bull cycle was started which Pakistan apparently missed in 2017.
Today, Waqar Zaka has over four million Crypto followers on his Facebook page where he comes Live with awareness videos. He also has over one million followers on his Youtube channel with tons of videos explaining the nature of day-to-day crypto trends.
Fruits of Struggle
Zaka claims he predicted the Bitcoin crash 24 hours prior to the dump on a talkshow on 18 May 2021. Bitcoin was already falling after reaching an all-time high of 59,000. Waqar predicted a further drop on 18 May, a day before it dropped from $43,000 to $36,000.
Many netizens thanked him on Twitter for helping them save their money.
Guys crypto world missed this analysis , you need to have a look at this , 24 hours before Bitcoin dumped on 18th MAY this guy exactly predicted on Global Satellite News channel what is going to occur , check it out !@ZakaWaqar @coinbase @CoinMarketCap @Cointelegraph @CoinDesk pic.twitter.com/e9zGFrlc17
— Sarim Ali (@CGSarim) July 1, 2021
Zaka went to different Universities of Pakistan, announcing cash prizes for students if they helped solve complex blockchain problems. In 2018 and on his directions, students of NED University launched a PIVX coin fork – a proof-of-stake based Coin called TenUp – which got listed on smaller exchanges like STEX and CoinMarketCap.
The Caymen Fiasco
Later, in 2021’s opening bull run, the TenUp’s price pumped in June 2021 – leading exchanges approached TenUp, but something strange happened when Zaka announced that Binance was adding TenUp to its exchange. For clarity, he posted a copy of the signed agreement to remove any reservations the people might have about a Pakistan-based crypto project.
When the agreement with Binance was initially being finalized, the associated address for that listing wasn’t appearing anywhere as a registered host in the Caymen Islands. After news reports concerning this issue spread across the globe, Binance started facing strict regulatory inquiries which made things difficult for TenUp to run its course across the Binance trading block.
The hosting address of Binance was being shown as invalid as the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) announced that the world’s biggest exchange was no longer listed there. In this regard, the CIMA informed in a worldwide press release that,
Binance, the Binance Group and Binance Holdings Limited are not registered, licensed, regulated or otherwise authorised by the Authority to operate a crypto-currency exchange from or within the Cayman Islands.
In the midst of these developments, Zaka engineered a deal with OKEx and now, TenUp is listed there as an ETH token.
Current Developments
While Binance is the fourth most downloaded app in Pakistan, it isn’t regulated and hasn’t received approval from the country’s regulators. Since using the Binance app for trading isn’t secure, Zaka is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in a bid to launch a locally regulated exchange (TenUp) in the country.
Currently, Waqar Zaka is pushing people to invest in TenUp (TUP), and continues to give live trading sessions on a Facebook group where viewers are allowed to copy his trades.
He also runs an online school for cryptocurrencies that charges only $10 per month. Zaka claims his rates are the cheapest in the world and offer more room for training during an era where foreign training courses charge more than $100 per month with limited training options to choose from.
Waqar Zaka is also venturing his dime and research in the GameFi space by working with Pakistan’s AR and VR (Augmented & Virtual Reality) lab at the NED University of Engineering & Technology to launch a GameFi based project for TenUp.
So proud of what I’m experiencing today , @TenupNation is all set to revolutionise and solve the ultimate decentralisation problem of Metaverse environment, this is the Projection VR System: Interactive immersive physics enabled environment . pic.twitter.com/fYfR0Wrr9O
— Waqar Zaka (@ZakaWaqar) September 27, 2021
The country is warmly embracing the crypto fever and rightfully so.
How do you rate Waqar Zaka’s commitment to legalizing cryptocurrencies in Pakistan? Hit the comment section if you have anything to add.
Kitna mila hai is post ka Waqar Zaka sy?
Chahi paise mele ho ya na jo bhi lekha hai sahi lekha hai … don’t be jealous
I love waqar he is doing great job