Pakistani authorities will ban the use of cryptocurrencies in the country

According to the government, transactions with digital assets are associated with high risk

17.05.2023 - 13:25

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What’s new? The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Ministry of Information Technology have begun work to ban cryptocurrencies, said Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha. The cryptocurrency will “never be legalized in Pakistan” by the government she said, adding that the authorities will stop the work of providers available in the country to prevent illegal transactions in accordance with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) guidelines.

SAMAA’s material

What else is known? Pakistan Peoples’ Party Senator Saleem Mandviwalla has expressed concern about the billions of dollars invested in the crypto market. Responding to these concerns, the SBP spokesperson said that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) are cracking down on citizens’ investments in digital assets.

For his part, SBP Director Sohail Jawad said that cryptocurrency transactions are associated with “high risk” and therefore they will never be allowed in Pakistan. He also noted that the capitalization of the crypto market has shrunk from $2,8 trillion to $1,2 trillion.

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The figure reached an all-time high (ATH) of $3 trillion in early November 2021; since then, it has fallen by 47% to $1,6 trillion as of May 17, according to aggregator CoinGecko.

Earlier, the IMF warned G20 countries about the risks of cryptocurrencies for banks. The fund believes that financial institutions could lose deposits and will be forced to reduce lending.

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