Pakistan taking a U-turn

[FortuneFollower]

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.

As it was said - they won't go and push for BTC itself, unfortunately, probably - but rather do their own thing.
But alas, it's far better than bans and things like that, of course.

[Spaceman1000$]

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.

The Pakistani Government shot itself on the foot by making such unsubstantiated statement about something they haven't taken any rigorous time to study about, because telling citizens that they will not be protected for using cryptocurrency goes to show that as a government, they didn't do their due diligence about the activities of cryptocurrency before coming out with such statements. The U-TURN they are taking now goes to show that, whatever they thought cryptocurrency was, is not really what they thought it would be and so far, they are at the losing side for coming to the party late. I believe by now as a Government they must have learnt their lessons not to take hasty decisions on new innovation because of petty sentiment and poor research on their own part as a Government.

[m2017]

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.

Pakistan, like any country (government) banned the use of bitcoin for fear of losing control over the money supply, and therefore the population. All these tales about illegal activities are just sweet nonsense to scare off the uninitiated from getting acquainted with cryptocurrencies.

Not only supporters of cryptocurrencies are not protected by the government, but also users of the traditional monetary system. Tell me how the government will protect its citizens from bankrupt banks (and loss of depositors' money) or from inflation (which no country in the world is able to contain).

But now we see that they seem to be getting more lenient with crypto probably after seeing many countries adopting bitcoin and reaping rewards.

That's not what they saw. What they saw was that cryptocurrencies (CBDC) could be used to exert even greater control over the population. You are mistaken in thinking that the reason for their leniency is their desire to make bitcoin accessible to their citizens.

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

Are you saying that Bitcoin and Ethereum are now legal tender in Pakistan? I don't believe it.

Their government only proposed amendments. This doesn't mean that they accepted them. And there is not a word about legalizing bitcoin, but about another CBDC.

I am 100% sure that no country will legalize bitcoin as a means of payment (except 3rd world countries like El Salvador) and the maximum that governments will allow is the use of bitcoin as an investment instrument.

[Faisal2202]

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.

I think we should not misinterpret the original news. If I am not wrong, Pakistan has not allowed or made virtual currencies (already in existence) legal, but they made some amendments to allow the Central Bank of Pakistan to issue digital currency that Pak citizens can use.  I don't know which technology they will be using, but it will be a centralized digital currency issued by SBP. I really don't understand what virtual currency they will be issuing soon I mean we already using PKR as digital currency on many finance apps, are they planning to introduce CBDs?

Well, whatever they are planning, I am sure they are not going to legalize cryptocurrencies anytime soon, but yeah, this is a first step toward digitalization, and maybe with time they think of legalizing crypto. I also hope the same that they legalize it. But unfortunately, they haven't yet. (Source)

[avikz]

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.

Get ready for more terrorists to join the crypto network then! Please understand the background -

- Pakistan is under a huge debt from IMF and World Bank
- These international organisations have forced Pakistan government to increase the tax rates and to cut down the government expenditure
- It is becoming very difficult for the government to directly support the terrorism organisations through the usual route as they are being monitored
- Pakistan government needs to find a way to support the terrorists groups in their country.

That's all! That's where cryptos are coming in.

[Cookdata]

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.

I'm aware that the media isn't friendly with Pakistans and other countries but I don't take these guys words serious. If human right is protected in some of the regions where there is huge numbers of human suffocation. Unless there is something they are gaining from this legalization, I wouldn't trust and don't be caught unaware that the west will look away, wouldn't say anything now and then say something about terrorism, and money laundering.

If this true then I will say a good liberation is going on without any fight but I have every reason to say that terrorism will be a major problem about this and the IMF wouldn't agree to this. They will probably seize to give them loans and will ask world bank to stop the funding and other governance body that provide financial support to them. I will wait first what US will do about the legalization process.

[kotajikikox]

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

According to the proposals, state banks would also be allowed to process digital payment services, facilitating blockchain-based transactions including the buying, selling, and trading of cryptocurrencies.

It is all proposal right now. Nothing set in stone but Pakistan recently had a change of leadership which makes me think that Pakistan may really be going to a different direction. The fact alone that they are venturing out into CBDCs could mean that they are already interested and studying cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. They appointed a new minister of state for finance and revenue this year. Their previous one was very much against crypto so I think it makes sense to assume they are on the path of adopting cryptocurrencies now with the new minister.

[retreat]

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are evolving and growing over time. A country cannot remain steadfast in its stance to ban Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in their country - if they see it continuing to grow and more and more adopters in their country, then they will inevitably have to be able to adjust their regulations to the conditions in society that want Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to be legalized. Moreover, the government can also get taxes from trading, and there are many other benefits that they can get from legalizing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, so there is no harm in them legalizing it and it can actually help build their economy.

[hugeblack]

Get ready for more terrorists to join the crypto network then! Please understand the background -

- Pakistan is under a huge debt from IMF and World Bank
- These international organisations have forced Pakistan government to increase the tax rates and to cut down the government expenditure
- It is becoming very difficult for the government to directly support the terrorism organisations through the usual route as they are being monitored
- Pakistan government needs to find a way to support the terrorists groups in their country.

That's all! That's where cryptos are coming in.

What to do in this case? If we take El Salvador as an example, adopting Bitcoin alone did not make the country rich. It may help slightly or moderately, depending on the investment, but the first beneficiaries of the regulation are the investors.

I don't expect countries with high population density to take more action anytime soon.

[fruktik]

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.

What happened so radically in Pakistan that the government decided to reconsider its attitude towards cryptocurrency? Maybe the sanctions had such an impact? This is the first thing that comes to mind. It is impossible to trade the way it was before. So they found a way out of the situation.

What other country comes to mind? The Russian Federation. For a very long time, the attitude towards crypto was not the best. Constant laws that limited this activity. The decision to change the attitude came after an incredible number of sanctions were introduced against this country and there was no other solution left on how to use crypto for cross-border transfers.

China does not have such problems. Therefore, you should not expect the situation to change for the better in the near future.

[betswift]

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.

What happened so radically in Pakistan that the government decided to reconsider its attitude towards cryptocurrency? Maybe the sanctions had such an impact? This is the first thing that comes to mind. It is impossible to trade the way it was before. So they found a way out of the situation.

What other country comes to mind? The Russian Federation. For a very long time, the attitude towards crypto was not the best. Constant laws that limited this activity. The decision to change the attitude came after an incredible number of sanctions were introduced against this country and there was no other solution left on how to use crypto for cross-border transfers.

China does not have such problems. Therefore, you should not expect the situation to change for the better in the near future.

Maybe the situation will change in Asia too - though I am too skeptical about such a case simply because why would big countries change something or introduce something new, that isn't tested with trial and error? It's an undiscovered land for them, and they won't do it if the pros won't outweigh the cons.

[Dave1]

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.

Of course, any country can flip it's stance on crypto, specially if they found out that it can truly help their country and it's population. And that is one reason many governments in the beginning thought about crypto though, that it has been used by criminals. But we all know that only a small percentage of them really use it, fiat is still the king for this kind of people.

However, I doubt that China though will make a U-turn, it's a authoritative regime, and what they don't like is that their population might keep their money on crypto and then bring out that money out of their country, and that's what they don't like to happen. So I skeptic that they will change their hard line stance in the future, specially for Bitcoin.

[fikrett]

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.

Of course, any country can flip it's stance on crypto, specially if they found out that it can truly help their country and it's population. And that is one reason many governments in the beginning thought about crypto though, that it has been used by criminals. But we all know that only a small percentage of them really use it, fiat is still the king for this kind of people.

However, I doubt that China though will make a U-turn, it's a authoritative regime, and what they don't like is that their population might keep their money on crypto and then bring out that money out of their country, and that's what they don't like to happen. So I skeptic that they will change their hard line stance in the future, specially for Bitcoin.

Let's face it - if the country is rich, it wouldn't even think about crypto that much and how to play around with it - for what? 
And another stop-line is when a country is very strict in terms of regulations - why it would play around with something that would give the capital the way out of it without much info on the traces of it?
I hope though that it will go fine and better as time goes on.

[john_egbert]

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are evolving and growing over time. A country cannot remain steadfast in its stance to ban Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in their country - if they see it continuing to grow and more and more adopters in their country, then they will inevitably have to be able to adjust their regulations to the conditions in society that want Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to be legalized. Moreover, the government can also get taxes from trading, and there are many other benefits that they can get from legalizing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, so there is no harm in them legalizing it and it can actually help build their economy.

I do see a trend of smaller countries choosing to loosen their belts a bit towards crypto - and it's a good sign, we can say it for sure - even though they will regulate everything to the brim, it's still a start. And maybe, just maybe, they will try to do something with BTC itself, though I don't think so.

[FortuneFollower]

Are you saying that Bitcoin and Ethereum are now legal tender in Pakistan? I don't believe it.

Their government only proposed amendments. This doesn't mean that they accepted them. And there is not a word about legalizing bitcoin, but about another CBDC.

I am 100% sure that no country will legalize bitcoin as a means of payment (except 3rd world countries like El Salvador) and the maximum that governments will allow is the use of bitcoin as an investment instrument.

Too early for that, I agree.
And I do think that the smaller countries will give examples to those like Pakistan and countries like it, that can be used as a.. Learning material, so to speak 
I hope so, at least, that as time goes on, more and more countries will hop onto crypto.

[LogitechMouse]

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.

You said it already. It's the profit.
As a developing country, they already realized that they might make some money when they are trying to adopt Bitcoin and who knows. They might follow what Bhutan is doing right now. Investing into Bitcoin. They're making a chance with their decision because they think that they can make money off of Bitcoin, and it's good to see another country doing this.

TBH, I don't really know the reason why certain countries choose to ban the use of cryptocurrencies on their country. They say that crypto has been used for illegal activities, but what about their own fiat currency? Isn't it used for illegal activities as well. Hmmm 

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.

China? Nahhh I don't think so.
I don't think that they will allow something that they can't even control at first place. At the end of the day, there are still Chinese people that are into crypto despite the government banning it. Other countries especially those developing ones might follow what Pakistan did as well especially now that we might enter the bull run season. As for Pakistan though, Bitcoin being a legal tender is out of the question right now.

[fikrett]

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.

China? Nahhh I don't think so.
I don't think that they will allow something that they can't even control at first place. At the end of the day, there are still Chinese people that are into crypto despite the government banning it. Other countries especially those developing ones might follow what Pakistan did as well especially now that we might enter the bull run season. As for Pakistan though, Bitcoin being a legal tender is out of the question right now.
[/quote]

The tender is still in question, it's just that the crypto question moved a little bit in a needed direction, as I've seen through this thread - however, I do think it's a positive change and I hope to more of it to come.

[avikz]

Get ready for more terrorists to join the crypto network then! Please understand the background -

- Pakistan is under a huge debt from IMF and World Bank
- These international organisations have forced Pakistan government to increase the tax rates and to cut down the government expenditure
- It is becoming very difficult for the government to directly support the terrorism organisations through the usual route as they are being monitored
- Pakistan government needs to find a way to support the terrorists groups in their country.

That's all! That's where cryptos are coming in.

What to do in this case? If we take El Salvador as an example, adopting Bitcoin alone did not make the country rich. It may help slightly or moderately, depending on the investment, but the first beneficiaries of the regulation are the investors.

I don't expect countries with high population density to take more action anytime soon.

Nothing apart from wait and watch! Pakistan's entry into the crypto market will make it even harder for many other countries to consider cryptocurrency as legal tender. It will bring down the reputation of cryptocurrency as a whole.

Pakistan government isn't doing it for their citizens. Rather they want to hide a lot of government transactions from the international bodies. It's not really good for cryptocurrency in general.

[Fiatless]

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.

The assumption that cryptos are mainly used for illegal activities is outdated or archaic. Most countries are making comprehensive regulatory laws and legalizing cryptocurrency use. Countries that make friendly laws will attract inventors thereby creating job opportunities, employment opportunities, increase revenue through tax and licencing and transfer of technology. Countries like Bhutan and El Salvador have also made a profit from investing in Bitcoin.

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.

China has the second biggest economy in the world. Unbanning Bitcoin in that country will be beneficial to the industry. Nothing is impossible, countries can change their laws and even China can become friendly in the future.

[Hamza2424]

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.

I won't say that cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin attracts a massive community or there's a small community within Pakistan. Still, as a local, I can say that I'm living at a village site even where 70% of young ones and almost most of the middle-age literate people know about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. So Yup involvement number cant be specified but it can be said that a major decent number of people are aware of Bitcoin and its use case (Negative or Positive) is a different thing.

Honestly, I'm still in shock after hearing such a statement, haha, as I wasn't expecting any comment at least 5 years later or Bitcoin reaching $1M. Bitcoin will lead the way sooner or later, but I'm satisfied with my stance of taking a look at it.

And BTW the U-turns are quite famous here.