Bitcoin Forum

There, Junaid Ahmed Palak sir, State Minister for ICT of Bangladesh, made a number of comments in favor of Bitcoin. His comments suggest that they are thinking of legalizing Bitcoin in Bangladesh. This is the news link: https://youtu.be/oZogIfJBz7M

I am translating the news from banga to English. Here I will highlight his points.

• We should be updated with technology in money evolution. Because first we use products for products then paper money then bank then plastic card as visa or master card, then mobile wallet then we can't accept digital payment system as a degital currency. I think this is top point.
• He says if we buy any illegal products with legal fiat currency then can we blame fiat currency? The answer os no, obviously not. So if bitcoin uses for any illegal work then we can't blame bitcoin. Another best point
• And lastly he says we should discussed about it so that in crypto race we get last position. So we should discuss about it and teach our people about bitcoin. That is why Our ICT MINISTER suggest the Department to make a report about bitcoin and send it to Bangladesh bank then we will discussed together about it approval.  

I think this little conference of him with news channel is a huge jump for Bangladesh in bitcoin sector. For me it is a purely posetive news for us. Might be we can see very soon that our country means Bangladesh approve bitcoin. I am waiting for the day.

Bangladesh minister making a statement supporting the adoption of cryptocurrency, usage of technology and the need for the same will make a big progress. However in my understanding sometimes the minister might get opposition from the government, because in the past I came across an article in which common man is arrested for using bitcoin. Atleast this will push Bangladesh to take a decision similar to India.

Although Bangladesh's ICT department has previously commented positively on Bitcoin, no positive response has been received from government officials. MP Palak Sir does not take Bitcoin seriously, no matter how much he talks about it. Therefore, such news does not carry any importance in the context of Bangladesh.

It looks like the Bangladesh Central Bank is firm in its 2017 decision not to allow bitcoin transactions among financial institutions. It's nice to see an attempt to adopt to changes but I'm still doubtful they can convince the same institution that issued the ban. Are there centralized exchanges legally operating in your country?

There is no Bangladesh Cryptocurrency related organization or affiliation with it. Bangladesh Central Bank has always been against Bitcoin. Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh government never used bitcoin Didn't bother with acceptance. So I believe Bangladesh will never recognize bitcoin.

That's too bad. I think a centralized exchange is the first step before bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies gains any recognition there. Maybe that's what the ICT Minister should try to propose first. There are many countries that does not recognize BTC as a legal tender but they still treat it as an investment asset.

Its really Great to hear Bangladesh showing positivity about Bitcoin.
Hope very soon every Country will start legalizing Bitcoin payments and China will go back from their current decision.

It's a bit of a tricky situation for the government, but their default stance on Bitcoin should have been to watch and learn all along. The usual case in countries such as Bangladesh is tax under reporting and this scares the government into taking drastic action like banning any financial instruments that they cannot easily control. It's understandable from that point of view, but if they allow easier forms of banking for citizens and the fees drop then they should be more likely to pay such taxes for the benefit of all. If Bangladeshi citizens fear that their banking system is weak then it makes perfect sense to allow decentralized banking and better protect the average person.

Still as input made by one party. Of course we cannot make this a complete reference if the Bangladesh ICT department makes a statement of support regarding the legality of Bitcoin. Because so far, it is still with the rules of the bill in Bangladesh regarding the position of Bitcoin as a prohibition that has not been changed until now.
If the transfer of this statement becomes a bright spot that gets a direct response from all governments in Bangladesh, of course we are very happy. Although currently the possibility to legalize BItcoin in Bangladesh looks to be difficult to realize.

Bangladesh is one of only 6 countries in the world that are considered “hostile” to bitcoin. Situation is complicated there and we cant see situation as not changing soon so lets see official news from Bank and Government in next month.

Every person is responsible for his own statements and opinions, and the prime minister here is just making a suggestion and approval about having to use bitcoin and adopt it, but at the end of the like any official who is in the government they don't just have full control over making any laws or passing any decisions on thier own they have to go through a lot of people and be voted by majority because that is how democracy works, so lets not just the gun and get hyped for no reason.

So it could go either way and despite enjoying what he said on his second point ^{[finally, there's someone that works for the government without possessing a pea-sized brain]}, I have a feeling that it's not going to happen anytime soon ^{[assuming that "this comment (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5360536.msg58045372#msg58045372)" is accurate]}.

You are right in this as we have very bad system in subcontinent they will talk then they will send for approval like this procedure is going to take very long time. Bangladesh stance was never been positive for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, but now they are thinking. If they have election process in near future then first they will check is this going to help them or not if going to help then surely they will use this as their positive otherwise It's going to be ended in dead house culture.

Anything that do talks about recognition or adoption is always been a great news.El salvador did really make out some eye opening kind of event where it shows that it is really
possible for Bitcoin to be integrated on a certain nation/country despite of its issues when it comes on being decentralized and if Bangladesh would recognize and possibly
make out some possible same move then this is really a very great news since other countries might consider on taking the same step also.

That’s the most positive vibes or approach from our honorable ICT Minister, no doubt about it. But here's the thing, previously he mentioned in an conference that they're focusing on blockchain (private one), not crypto-currency. Also suddenly China banned crypto and i have a bad vibe that he might follow the same path like China did, means deploying own digital assets instead of adopting bitcoin. Also point to be noted, he mentioned about introducing Bangladesh's own digital currency in that attached video. So it could be the worst case if they do this.

On the other hand, everyone's so much excited for the adoption of crypto in Bangladesh and so do i.  :D

this is indeed good news for the people who are residing in this country. because as far as i know, their Central Bank declared crypto transactions illegal. so they are changing their tune now. maybe, the influence of what's happening in el salvador. but their citizens should not rejoice this early because they don't know yet what is the real intention of their government. as you said, they may launch their own digital currency, and let's see what is their approach towards these countless cryptocurrencies existing in the market.

This positive news is highly appreciated, and I adore their transparency behind what's really happening of Bitcoin with other countries today despite of fake news that also trying to mislead us. Fortunately, cryptocurrency still continue raging towards the top and never been shakin by different crab mentality people who wanted to take down bitcoin just to pursue their dark intentions. Hopefully approval will be expedited and after that we will see the potential positive outcome for btc price on its current market value.

^ Who knows!
BTC has been popular a long time ago and I don't think they did not recognize by them. Probably they saw the potential of BTC, the usage on it to their country, instead of banning, why not legalizing and it could be potential their country have benefits on it. We hope that they are the 4th countries that legalized BTC. However, this is good news to us as crypto enthusiasts, because it has an impact on the price.

Adoption continues to be carried out in various developing countries and this proves the popularity and real benefits of bitcoin as a driving force for a country's economy. Bangladesh would certainly do some research before starting to adopt bitcoin if this is indeed the case. Learning from El Salvador about adoption should be followed by interest from the community as well.
in some other developing countries Bitcoin is also used as an investment tool or as a commodity trade, so Bitcoin is still legal even though it is not a legal currency as payment.

I hope that it's the start that they'll lift the ban of bitcoin on their country. They need it so that they'll make every citizen who owns bitcoin will go out and won't need to hide anymore because of how they're coping up with this ban.

There's already an adoption there but it's stopped and slowed down due to the policy that they've made. They've banned it but still there are people that continue to accumulate bitcoin there but they're just hiding it.

Good to see someone from the government making a good impression on Bitcoin but it does not mean that we can already expect the government to be approving and legalizing Bitcoin in Bangladesh. Though I would say that this is a good development am sure this ICT Minister can be an advocate of Bitcoin in the country and who knows there can be a time when some other government officials will also see the advantage of Bitcoin and they can be a force for its acceptance by the government. But I am sure this can be taking some time...though no problem because we can wait. Is this a kind of a good effect from the El Salvador adoption? Maybe yes...

Thank you for sharing.

Just I hope it happens the right way over there. Usually in our part of the world when one minister says something,,, it often translates not really into what we think it is intended.

But he has a very good point of course in that Bitcoin should not be associated with crime just because people think it enables criminal activity and this is one of the biggest myths the media loves to play.

If that can happen, it can boost the adoption in that country and if the side country can see what Bangladesh did, they will follow or learn more about that and apply it to their country. Hopefully, that will not need too long for them to apply and use bitcoin in their country as when bitcoin price can increase, they will get the benefits of that. There is no need to block crypto for their people's benefit, especially if their people already feel the benefits to their lives and if more people can use bitcoin to make money, that will benefit others.

That still depends on how big the population that will adopt bitcoin in Bangladesh and how stable the nation is which is a big factor since a stable country won't mean that people will panic everytime. It's a good news but we hope that the effect will make something for the market.

As well as I know and I could I understand during the last months, The governments with invaluable and worthless fiat currencies are going to accept and use bitcoin in their transaction because their fiat is already worthless so it makes sense to look for bitcoin, In the other hand for other countries such as the US since they have already strong fiat currency they usually try to support their own fiat currency and surly they will stand against any other thing including bitcoin. There is the same story for Bangladesh and their government, so, I won't be surprised if I see they accept bitcoin soon.

There’s also an article I found today, which I presume derived its information from the same event (at least the ICT State Minister is wearing the same clothes, as is the person to his left), where there are a bunch of translated quotes. Although he does mention bitcoin, the text gives the impression of being more focused on vouching for a "central digital currency". He also mentions that:


I’m not convinced that bitcoin isn’t being simply being used as a talking gateway to approach their own digital currency, but this type of assumption is better made or refuted by people with local knowledge (or at least language knowledge).

See: https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/579554/Don%E2%80%99t-ban-bitcoin-out-of-ignorance

Let's not dampen the good news with pessimism. What has happened is a positive for Bitcoin and the entire community. I think we should take each step as it comes. This first step is great and we should keep it at that. At least, someone is now speaking out in favour of Bitcoin in Bangladesh. With time, others will fall in place.

Bangladesh is a poor and corrupt country. Going the cryptocurrency way will enable it checkmate the essences of her leaders and prevent them from stealing. Everything on the blockchain is transparent; nothing is hidden. In fact, I think it's this part of the blockchain that scares most country from adopting it because it will prevent stealing of public funds.

What do you think why doesnt the government legalize bitcoin ? As there is huge corruption in Bangladesh I think, everyone will use bitcoin to white their black money.

This is a start. I like it. Although the Central Bank has reiterated its position on owning or trading in cryptocurrencies saying that it goes against the country's financial regulation and could lead to a punishment of up to 12 years in prison. The ICT minister's point has also echoed by the Syed Almas Kabir, president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) who once said that “Cryptocurrency is the future. When we want to move towards a cashless society, we cannot be in denial. We have to start preparing to adapt to the implementation of such technology that has the potential to develop several industries.” Soon the  the world and even Bangladesh central bank will come to terms with the goodness of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, these stringent rules will be abolished. We just need good folks out there who would be pushing the word.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/07/27/bangladesh-bank-to-cid-trading-owning-cryptocurrency-not-illegal

What op wrote sounds promising, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. After all, it's one minister, and there are many other people who can affect the decision, such as the parliament, the financial sector (Central bank or something like this), as well as other ministers. So saying that Bangladesh may approve Bitcoin very soon based on one guy among those in power who happens to be in favor of it seems too optimistic to me. I hope it happens, of course, and I hope that, based on the opinions of this minister from the original post, Bitcoin will be regulated as a kind of money rather than an asset there, but that can take a lot of time and effort because there should be at least a team of people in the government who see it as a priority in order for this to work.

Ofcourse, lots of things can be used for either good or evil, whether they are good things or not. It's our responsibility to ensure they aren't used wrongly . Luckily, Bitcoin is designed in a way that makes its misuse hard ... We just need to take advantage of this feature to help create a safe space for its users

I see more benefits to their Government by allowing centralized exchanges to operate than approving BTC as a legal tender. They can monitor these exchanges and they can tax them accordingly.

Long way to go for this.

I do not know about the price impact since the news wasn't so widespread. I was searching for supporting articles yesterday but I couldn't see write ups from more popular online news platforms.

If the news is true then that's probably good news for all of the locals of bangladesh who are secretly trading/using bitcoin as earlier bangladesh government is harsh towards bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
Even though crypto was banned, there are still who risk and trade who probably got jailed based on different news.

Due to today's media, we don't really get to understand what statement someone ihas actually made. Today evening, I was reading through my dailyhunt app and seen this news. It seems the newspaper I read, has depicted the story in a different way.

The minister has never given a positive indication. He has only said that government should first know about it before thinking of banning it. Otherwise they may loose an opportunity to stand as per the market. That's a noble statement, no doubt about it! But not sure what's exactly gonna happen. The Bank of Bangladesh has already imposed a banking ban few years back which is still in force.

Seems he is very positive so far to approve Bitcoin in Bangladesh. But Bangladesh bank's statements are totally different. It's not an easy task for Bangladesh to accept Bitcoin due to various reasons. But I am positive though it's a lengthy procedure. Just giving a positive speech on the press briefing wouldn't help to allow Bitcoin. A legal authority should take a step like Bangladesh banks about Bitcoin legalization. The entire government should think about positivity. We can't prevent money Laundering ever, either with Bitcoin or with fiat money. Millions of dollars saving on Swiss Bank, who are they? Government should realize the positive sides rather than just accuse Money Laundering. Then it would possible to legalize Bitcoin. But I don't think very soon the Bangladesh government will allow Bitcoin.

I don't how relevant this news was but it was mind-blowing to read positive news about Bitcoin to be acknowledged by the government not to even talk about Bangladesh which was once among the list of countries that don't allow his citizen to accept or trade cryptocurrency some years ago.
This is a sign that the next Bitcoin halving market price will be off-limit.

People need to curb their enthusiasm when they see news like this, how many times in the past we have seen a politician which is part of the government say good things about bitcoin only to change their tune relatively quickly.

This is a classic tactic called bait and switch, basically a person promises something but when the time comes to fulfill their promises they fail to deliver and offer something else, so like always people need to exercise caution as I would not be surprised if in the future governments promise to do something similar to what El Salvador did and lure bitcoin holders to reveal their holdings to them only to change their tune and then try to get taxes out of them or even confiscate their coins.

They will progress far ahead of India.
India trying to ban Bitcoin will look like fools soon under the current BJP rule.

Maybe I miss something but I'd never found the news in regards to adoption but only I got this one https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2021/07/27/bangladesh-bank-to-cid-trading-owning-cryptocurrency-not-illegal
which has been published last July 2021 which is the use of crypto was not illegal unless if their is a fraud.

And now they change their mind and found out that Bitcoin will give them help in providing jobs for their countrymen and more benefits to get.
This will surely gain support from the community and this will not be getting far from how El Salvador has been doing.

Very strange comment!! How can you suspect legalizing Bitcoin is a trick made by Bangladesh corruptors? Do you have proof of this?
Black money is black money, cannot be converted to be white money. Anyway, I think you have no reasons to be so worried about this case right now. You can be wrong, legalizing Bitcoin is probably the way for the Bangladesh government to improve the economy or financial sector in Bangladesh. Don't you realize this?

I agree here,,, exchanges are where the volumes will happen for most individuals and eventually even traders will use exchanges for their bigger volumes. Even today not everybody is willing to use BTC to spend as it is too volatile, much less merchants to agree using them when their whole business is still on fiat margins.

Legalize exchanges first as a first step.

Bangladesh is the same country where a few Bitcoin traders got arrested recently, right? The reason being given was that Bitcoin is illegal in Bangladesh and the traders were operating without a license. So why this u-turn now? Still personal comments from one minister can't be translated as support from the government. From what I understand, he is a junior-ranking minister and don't have much influence on the decisions that are being taken by the finance ministry. I am waiting for an official statement from the Bangladesh Bank.

I love this news because I know of some people who use crypto from this nation and that I have shared with them on social media.

Fortunately, Bangladesh has already been studying the points of view to accept bitcoin and with that to achieve the stage so that the inhabitants begin to be interested.

By accepting bitcoin they would take an important leap as other countries have dared to do. It is what the economy deserves and the use of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will open opportunities for development.

Meanwhile Bangladesh Bank on Bitcoin,
"Bitcoin is a strange cryptocurrency, it is a currency of the black market, it doesn’t have a lot of usages. There are companies who run the bitcoin have no license, it doesn’t give bitcoin acceptance. It can be hacked bla bla bla." This is an earlier report from Bangladesh released in last month.
Anyway, this is really good stuff to see. He was directly talking about mining etc. Liked it. Maybe something will happen.

That's talking big, I mean India has far more population than any other countries in East Asia and that only means that there's probably no way that they can match that manpower in terms of workforce plus India is more developed compared to Bangladesh that has been war torn if I recall correctly.

It's nice to know that their prime minister is well-aware about Bitcoin's potential as well as the sensitive area such as bitcoin being blamed on illegal activities then making a valid point to counter it. He thinks radically and I hope other government officials will do the same. Although I suppose it would be a tough time for him to convince his fellow government officials because it seems that their government do not really support anything related with cryptocurrencies, which explains the banning and illegal status of bitcoin in their country.

The prime minister voicing out his opinion about bitcoin could be one of the stepping stones to make a change in Bangladesh's take on bitcoin. Despite him not being really powerful and influential, if he could open the eyes of other government officials, collective efforts and voices will make a difference. Hopefully, he'll be able to do it.

That is refreshing to see neighbouring country us making great discussions about the crypto. I hope this just gets into hearts of my government and make them think regarding the bitcoin adoption. Country like Bangladesh is under-developed to developing stage and this could be the right point to accept the new form of currency so that peeps can start dig in the new possibilities of earning money.

When this happens, lot of money come into the country from overseas and could open up whole new channel. Today The Minister is accepting bitcoin, sooner or later peeps with like minded will start to mine within the country. This will increase the electricity usage, more money for Government in that form, properties on lease for mining space and more money getting minted within the country.

Sounds great, but they should really stick to the statement and rest will follow.

Didn't know that there is an ICT ministry to give a permission to act in Gayasi. He has already held a press conference and there will be more meetings on this subject so he will invite some experts and some online from abroad.

Bitcoin is going to be the key for many new business and blockchain anyways being used by many big organizations. I think country which accepts and make it count will move much ahead then their previous years. And those who still unsure or ban might have to suffer in their economic GDP too. As many new businesses and entrepreneurs could be born related to crypto business itself and just add value to country.

His comments do not represent the stance of the whole government, though either way it's still great input considering that his remarks are positive towards bitcoin. It's just that it's hard to bank on the weight of his words right now that most of the government are still having second thoughts and extreme doubts about bitcoin. Perhaps he can use his position to influence or at least have other members of the government view bitcoin in a different light, but right now he needs to do what he has to do for the government and maybe just integrate plans on legalizing bitcoin with it.

It is a great news to have, if they approve bitcoin in their country then it’s not going to be a bad decision for them. It’s all about them understanding cryptocurrency in general and knowing how they can utilize it to make sure that it is going to benefit the country and help them to build their economy to a level that is above what we are seeing it today.

I do understand that it is all a process, and as usual they will have to start from somewhere and start working on it. But, I think it’s always best that the government first of all get to know what their citizens are into and whether they will go with the idea of making it a legal tender, or they can just make it a legal asset that anyone is free to use.

I doubt that Bangladesh will legalize Bitcoin. All governments in the South East Asia region are pretty much confused about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. They have not yet decided what they will do? But, if any one of them legalizes or adds regulation then all of these countries will follow each other. All we can do is to wait and watch.

To me this is one more sign of the mistake China has made. The vast majority of countries in the world are going to embrace Bitcoin, regulating it legally in one way or another. Bangladesh is good news and follows the general trend that we see in the world. Now it only remains for countries to join in buying/mining Bitcoin, as El Salvador is doing. The moment they realize that whoever buys Bitcoin for their reserves will have a great advantage, the countries will enter into a FOMO.

That is the next step in the adoption of bitcoin, we already have institutional investors coming to the market but then we are going to get countries getting into bitcoin and buying some to have as reserves, at the beginning the purchases will be small but will begin to increase as times passes and this will create a massive amount of FOMO.

So I agree with you, I think this is a historical mistake by China that will haunt them by generations to come, bitcoin was on their backyard and they had most of the mining hash rate and an active community there and they destroyed all of it just to have a little more control over their citizens.

If this is true, Bangladesh's citizens and the country will finally be adopting crypto and Bitcoin, and the citizens of Bangladesh will finally be able to commit to crypto and benefit from it, though I've heard some posts that the Prime Minister is only having talks about approving Bitcoin, they're probably trying to figure out on how the actual government will benefit from this? I don't know but I do hope that they'll approve it as early as possible.

This is quite interesting, primarily because Bangladesh was amongst those countries which were early in the party while banning Cryptocurrencies, first they stated through their national bank that they aren't going to allow crypto and then even government cleared their stance but now this U turn signifies that they are understanding the importance of Crypto and how they will never be able to remove Cryptos from their system now despite any number of bans, they are left with no resort than to legalize Cryptos because they actually are now inevitable.

Good to know state minister of Bangladesh is open minded about bitcoin benefits. It's comforting to see authorities refuting usual negative thoughts people have about bitcoin, like the popular one which says bitcoin is related to illegal activities and products. Now let's see what the status of bitcoin will be in Bangladesh.
They may pass a regulation similar to El Salvador considering it legal tender or may pass a softer regulation just legalizing the digital currency. The important is that poor countries can be the most benefited ones by adopting bitcoin, as they have nothing to lose and I have the impression many of these countries are already aware about the potential benefits in doing so. It's noticiable the number of countries interested in bitcoin in a short time period (El Salvador, Ukraine, Cuba, Brazil, Paraguay and now Bangladesh).

Like many governments who were too fast to that they will never bend the rules to look positively on Bitcoin and crypto in general, India is starting to realize the potential introducing the population to blockchain and technology has.

Not only in terms of cheaper, easier and more secure way to processing payments but also providing new job opportunities, becoming more efficient and transparent.

If Indian government is really going to approve crypto and accept it as method of payment, the news will be huge, and the community will flourish with more innovations, opportunities and game-changing ideas. It will set a new era...

Exactly, China has the biggest population but India's population is skyrocketing, and might soon take the number 1 spot. If the government will go 100% positive on crypto, then that's big news that would increase the adoption, we need that for sure and thanks to the country especially El Salvador who believe in bitcoin as it really impacts and made other countries realize the opportunity it could bring to help a boost on their economy.

Is his statement really influencing crypto adoption and regulation in that country?
So far, crypto is still illegal, right?
But, there may be many expectations more about the legalization of crypto in that country, moreover, many people there are related to the crypto world, working in crypto.
There should be many more influencers or important parties again to come up and rise up the crypto. Although it will be not easy.
My country, at first also didn't legalize crypto, until 2019 there is a new regulation of legalizing crypto as a commodity asset (not currency). It may need more process and struggles again. Hopefully crypto can be many more accepted in the world.