Pakistan taking a U-turn

[kotajikikox]

Pakistan has moved to legalize crypto, marking a major shift in its financial policy, which has historically labeled digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as illegal tender.

The federal government has proposed amendments to its State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Act, allowing the SBP to issue the country’s money in digital currency. read here

In 2023, Pakistan was very firm on their stance about crypto. They promoted the idea that using cryptocurrencies allows for illegal activities and therefore will not be encouraged and anyone to use cryptocurrencies will not be protected by the government. But now we see that they seem to be getting more lenient with crypto probably after seeing many countries adopting bitcoin and reaping rewards.

This just shows that even though a country has written off bitcoin, it doesn’t mean it can’t change. What other countries do you hope to reconsider their laws about bitcoin and crypto at large? China comes to mind first seeing how strong and largely popular was crypto there.

[BlackBoss_]

This just shows that even though a country has written off bitcoin, it doesn’t mean it can’t change. What other countries do you hope to reconsider their laws about bitcoin and crypto at large? China comes to mind first seeing how strong and largely popular was crypto there.

Bitcoin blockchain is decentralized and most secure so that Bitcoin transactions are irreversible.

Bitcoin adoption has been increasing and has been better than ever. Fortunately and importantly, this adoption growth of Bitcoin is irreversible too. It causes unavoidable trend globally that nations have to join the trend if they don't want their countries are falling behind what they can not ban. They can make Bitcoin illegal in their countries but citizens there will continue to use bitcoin. So at the end, these governments are losers by wasting opportunities to gain more money in tax from their citizens.

So it's time for change, to legalize Bitcoin in their countries.

It's time to spread the Orange color (a traditional iconic color for Bitcoin) on the global map.
https://newhedge.io/terminal/bitcoin/legality-map

[Hewlet]

This just shows that even though a country has written off bitcoin, it doesn’t mean it can’t change. What other countries do you hope to reconsider their laws about bitcoin and crypto at large? China comes to mind first seeing how strong and largely popular was crypto there.

believe me that most countries that looks uninterested in keying into Bitcoin adoption are doing so just because of other countries that are still skeptical about Bitcoin.

Like my country for instance, the only reason why they seems to be against Bitcoin and crypto in general and hasn't made an official statement allowing it full and unsensored operation is due to the devaluation of her local currency that they tend to attribute to be caused by Bitcoin users that are carrying out p2p transactions and fixing individual rates by themselves. If the local currency gains value and some of the world powers like China, Russia and the United States keys into adopting Bitcoin as her reserve, my country will easily have a u turn on the way they look at Bitcoin. In terms of popularity and the Numbers of holders, at least 20% of citizens already know about the functionality of crypto and that's fair enough to start with.

[hugeblack]

The author of the article deliberately ignored the difference between digital currencies^[1] and cryptocurrencies. The text source says:

According to a report from The Express Tribune, government sources said that digital currency was being added to the SBP Act for the first time.

According to the sources, the SBP has regularly rejected digital currency proposals and issued warnings against their use until now.

The new amendments propose that digital currencies can be issued by the SBP as well as traditional finance. This would allow the central bank in Pakistan to manage the country’s money “in physical or digital or both forms.”

Digital_currency is not a crypto, which are a form of current money, but they are digital, completely centralized, and do not have to be on the blockchain.  So if the above quote is the only update, then nothing has changed.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_currency

[Helena Yu]

I would like to know the proposal because I haven't find it after making some research.

Digital_currency is not a crypto, which are a form of current money, but they are digital, completely centralized, and do not have to be on the blockchain.  So if the above quote is the only update, then nothing has changed.

You're correct, Pakistani government is talking about CBDC, it has nothing to do with Bitcoin, it's just the writers wish for Pakistani government to allow Bitcoin. Of course Pakistan need to amendments their regulations because it doesn't make any sense if they reject their own currency.

[betswift]

I would like to know the proposal because I haven't find it after making some research.

Digital_currency is not a crypto, which are a form of current money, but they are digital, completely centralized, and do not have to be on the blockchain.  So if the above quote is the only update, then nothing has changed.

You're correct, Pakistani government is talking about CBDC, it has nothing to do with Bitcoin, it's just the writers wish for Pakistani government to allow Bitcoin. Of course Pakistan need to amendments their regulations because it doesn't make any sense if they reject their own currency.

CBDC is on the minds of many countries nowadays, as far as I've heard about it.
If that's true, then, yeah, BTC would still be out of the picture to take a positive change in a stance in Pakistan and other countries too.

[Alpha Marine]

I can't speak for other cryptocurrencies, but with bitcoin all you have to do is just wait. Everybody with a right-thinking head will later come to realise that it's better to accept it rather than reject it, because when you compare bitcoin to every other currency out there, bitcoin is superior. With time they will all see it. The governments may not admit it openly of course and they will not make it legal tender, but it will not be illegal to spend or own bitcoin.
I belive that what most countries that are very strict with bitcoin need is time. That's if the country actually cares about its citizens. By the time the see how beneficial bitcoin is to the individuals, they'll lighten up towards bitcoin.

[Kelward]

I would like to know the proposal because I haven't find it after making some research.

Digital_currency is not a crypto, which are a form of current money, but they are digital, completely centralized, and do not have to be on the blockchain.  So if the above quote is the only update, then nothing has changed.

You're correct, Pakistani government is talking about CBDC, it has nothing to do with Bitcoin, it's just the writers wish for Pakistani government to allow Bitcoin. Of course Pakistan need to amendments their regulations because it doesn't make any sense if they reject their own currency.

Reading the article on the link that OP provided, it didn't specifically state that the Pakistani government is legalizing cryptocurrency, so I agree with you that it must be the writers wish. Some people will publish articles with misleading information, and someone who is not vast in the topic will easily believe what is said.

I believe that in the near future, countries like Pakistan and China, that are still being skeptical about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general will have a change of mind. Bitcoin has become a store of value and it's adoption is increasing despite the unfriendly stance by some governments, I believe that in near future, they won't have much choice but to fully recognize it. The impact of Bitcoin is being felt in the US presidential campaigns, this is to show that eventually governments will adopt what the people want.

[hd49728]

The author of the article deliberately ignored the difference between digital currencies^[1] and cryptocurrencies. The text source says:

Digital_currency is not a crypto, which are a form of current money, but they are digital, completely centralized, and do not have to be on the blockchain.  So if the above quote is the only update, then nothing has changed.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_currency

Governments already accept digital currencies launch by themselves through central banks and distribute through commercial banks too. They're going to develop,  test and launch CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies), a newest form of their national digital currencies.

It is big difference compares to Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies that are not launched by governments, central banks and they don't control these currencies. Except is they can control altcoin blockchains if they want by arresting founders of these blockchains and force them to do it for governments.

Several CBDC trackers.
cbdctracker.org/
atlanticcouncil.org/cbdctracker/
cbdctalks.com/

[fikrett]

The author of the article deliberately ignored the difference between digital currencies^[1] and cryptocurrencies. The text source says:

Digital_currency is not a crypto, which are a form of current money, but they are digital, completely centralized, and do not have to be on the blockchain.  So if the above quote is the only update, then nothing has changed.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_currency

Governments already accept digital currencies launch by themselves through central banks and distribute through commercial banks too. They're going to develop,  test and launch CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies), a newest form of their national digital currencies.

It is big difference compares to Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies that are not launched by governments, central banks and they don't control these currencies. Except is they can control altcoin blockchains if they want by arresting founders of these blockchains and force them to do it for governments.

Several CBDC trackers.
cbdctracker.org/
atlanticcouncil.org/cbdctracker/
cbdctalks.com/

I think big countries like China or India would love to get their currencies on CDBC rails to have a much wider set of tools to control and regulate them.
Especially China! It's a "treasure" for them and for their people to use it because it can be regulated to the brim and used as a lever in some situations, in my opinion.

[Segmadis]

Personally I don't think that China will lift the BAN soon, it is just not possible to have a control of the money like they want with Bitcoin.
For me the next countries that will embrace Bitcoin will be located in Europe if not the whole EU at once. By embrace I mean that most of them will start having it as a reserve currency.

[Ever-young]

This just shows that even though a country has written off bitcoin, it doesn’t mean it can’t change. What other countries do you hope to reconsider their laws about bitcoin and crypto at large? China comes to mind first seeing how strong and largely popular was crypto there.

The article content says a different thing compared to what the title carries, and it's a bit misleading. The only improvement I see in here is that they are open to embracing digitisation on their country's currency, creating something they can control both digitally and physically.
 
That's, by the way, in the aspect of government changing from their first decision in regard to technology to more favourable terms is based on who they have in power within the agency and those in power during the time of the current administration.

If there are people who are lovers of innovation, then there should always be a change in some policy regarding that angel; if not a major change, at least a proposal to revisit those old bills can be done.

[slaman29]

Lol Pakistan can ban Bitcoin all it wants but the fact is all the guys I know in India and Pakistan trading Bitcoin since 2016/17 are still trading Bitcoin (P2P selling or buying).

Legal tender is a dream most merchants don't need anyway yet. Half the country still runs on cash, only in big cities you can use card, and still its not widely spread.

In effect, no news really. Like you said tho China will be the big deal.

[Davidvictorson]

My stance on this is that if I were a government official in charge of passing laws, the last thing I would want to do is jump into conclusion about something that is new just because I don't understand. This is why research can never be overemphazied. There are many smart people in the country that can be called upon to study a new technology and give an unbaised report of it based on concrete evidence and not assumptions. It is only through research based on evidence that we advance and make remarkable progress as a society. In many years or months to come there would be countries who would reverse their stance on bitcoin. I hope my country is next.

[Synchronice]

Pakistan has moved to legalize crypto, marking a major shift in its financial policy, which has historically labeled digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as illegal tender.

The federal government has proposed amendments to its State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Act, allowing the SBP to issue the country’s money in digital currency. read here

In 2023, Pakistan was very firm on their stance about crypto. They promoted the idea that using cryptocurrencies allows for illegal activities and therefore will not be encouraged and anyone to use cryptocurrencies will not be protected by the government. But now we see that they seem to be getting more lenient with crypto probably after seeing many countries adopting bitcoin and reaping rewards.

This just shows that even though a country has written off bitcoin, it doesn’t mean it can’t change. What other countries do you hope to reconsider their laws about bitcoin and crypto at large? China comes to mind first seeing how strong and largely popular was crypto there.

It's good that they changed the law because it's stupid to abandon Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, which are the innovation of the 21th century. Just imagine, there have been only two types of money before, Coins and Paper, for 21 centuries and then came a brand new type of money, a cryptocurrency. To my mind, it's a sin to ban Bitcoin, it's a crime, really.

By the way, I also think that China will soon take U-turn on Bitcoin because the USA accepting ETFs and is gaining power on it, especially if Trump wins and decides to make his crazy dream realize, that includes trying to getting the rest of Bitcoins mined in the USA. Logically, China should be interested to take some power on Bitcoin from the USA, so they have to change their stance.

[DeathAngel]

The quotes suggest to me they are planning to roll out a CBDC, not push for Bitcoin & crypto use. I could be wrong but that’s what it looks like. It doesn’t matter any way because as Bitcoin becomes more & more widespread use, they will all have to backtrack.

[icalical]

This may be some kind of precedence that Pakistan is setting, going with the global trend of regulation over outright bans. I feel that we are more likely to see changes rather than backtracking in countries with strict regulations,and then, only when these countries find ways of handling secure digital currencies within their existing frameworks. Then, looking at other countries like China, underground crypto remained popular there, although it never actually moved away from the hardline.

[EluguHcman]

Let us not take it for a surprise, change is always constant. We can all attesting that majority of Bitcoin adoptors today where mostly in doubt about it.

I have actually come to think that who hears about Bitcoin and does not have a second thought about it before investing their funds are mostly those who can possibly be scammed.
Bitcoin is a newly financial technology that has just existed after decades the fiats has existed.

The government has actually tried to make us individually have this negative influence on digital and a decentralized currency like Bitcoin in considerations... They are about the peoples funds but though they (government) are highily greediness feeding fats on the public funds. So alternatively, they fears about the adoption of the system since it is decentralized so they can not get aware with those their authoritative and selfish interests with it.

Now the Pakistan government has woken up earlier which I would not say late because in yead ahead, there would be more countries to adopt legal tendering of Bitcoin without undermining its decentralization anymore.

I am sure that the Pakistan government has since been on research of how they can utilize the use of Bitcoin is if adopted. Then they must have been made understand of how it could verily contribute to their economy and citizens adopting it may somewhere rely a so source of income there.
They did well with the approach i must say.

[fikrett]

The quotes suggest to me they are planning to roll out a CBDC, not push for Bitcoin & crypto use. I could be wrong but that’s what it looks like. It doesn’t matter any way because as Bitcoin becomes more & more widespread use, they will all have to backtrack.

The govs will always push for CBDC.
It's essential for them because they can regulate it and control it more.
Not as much as BTC.. Or any other crypto, really, except for stables.

[john_egbert]

This may be some kind of precedence that Pakistan is setting, going with the global trend of regulation over outright bans. I feel that we are more likely to see changes rather than backtracking in countries with strict regulations,and then, only when these countries find ways of handling secure digital currencies within their existing frameworks. Then, looking at other countries like China, underground crypto remained popular there, although it never actually moved away from the hardline.

Why would China push for BTC, when it can pour money into something of its own?
I do think that only smaller countries would try to play around with BTC itself, others would be much more skeptical about it.