The government committee for the formulation of rules on cryptocurrencies has met twice without making any headway during the last two of the three months it was allotted by the Sindh High Court (SHC).
In October, the court had ordered the government to regulate cryptocurrencies in consultation with all the stakeholders, including the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and the Ministries of Law and Information Technology and Telecommunication (ITT), within three months.
It had also ordered the formation of a committee and had directed it to come up with suggestions.
All the efforts of the Government of Pakistan have failed to deal with the emerging risk of unregulated cryptocurrencies in the country, which is tightening its grip on potential investment streams without bringing itself under any law of the land.
Popular exchanges like Binance and OKEx are operating their businesses in Pakistan virtually, without headquarters, offices, or any presence in the country. They are earning millions of dollars without falling under any law or paying a single rupee to the national exchequer due to the absence of a relevant legal framework for regularized cryptocurrency in the country.
The SBP had declared cryptocurrencies illegal in April 2018, after which no one, including the central bank and the SECP, monitored the activities of crypto companies that have been attracting millions of potential investors from the country.
Apps like Binance and Binomo have more downloads than some of the country’s largest banks’ apps, according to web analytics company SimilarWeb.
To that effect, the Government of Pakistan needs to run media campaigns to create public awareness about these crypto companies as less renowned online platforms had committed frauds in the past and were not regulated in Pakistan.
Notably, most developed and developing countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Spain, El Salvador, and Australia, have legalized cryptocurrencies as assets of real value.
