TL;DR Breakdown
- Due to a lack of a regulatory framework, Pakistan nationals have invested heavily in cryptocurrencies.
- These investors are said to hold over $20B in cryptos which is more than what the country’s Central Bank has in foreign reserves.
Per recent reports, Pakistan citizens own more holdings in cryptos than what their country owns in foreign reserves. These citizens have accumulated this wealth due to the lack of a framework to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Due to the eye-watering wealth that the citizens hold out of reach of the government, authorities now want Pakistan to regulate cryptos.
Pakistan nationals lead in crypto adoption
Per an analysis from Chinalysis, Pakistan ranks third in the worldwide crypto adoption rates. It had a remarkable 711% increase over the past year due to the increasing attraction of investors to major coins like BTC. Now, the country ranks only behind India and Vietnam.
This assumption of Pakistan’s citizens’ crypto holdings amounting to $20 billion may be lower than the true value since many people transact through the P2P method. The P2P method is highly undetectable, and its data remains in a grey area; hence the government cannot truly determine such transactions.
The FPCCI President, Nasir Magoon, now wants the government of Pakistan to emulate India in setting up crypto regulations. He said that such a development would help the nationals of Pakistan to transact through their own country.
The call for crypto regulation continues
As crypto adoption increases exponentially, the call for regulating these assets is also getting louder. The most recent call comes from Pakistan, where the head of the FPCCI wants the government to regulate these assets. He wants the government to follow the protocols given by reputable organizations like the IMF when setting those regulations.
In October, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Muhammad Khan, said that the Pakistan government had no opposition against cryptos. However, recent calls from other authorities have been contradicting him since even courts want the government to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Pakistan is not the only country struggling to figure out whether to regulate cryptos or not. Many others are trying to find the best ways to make these assets more transparent and less risky. Another country that is also occupied with crypto regulation is Singapore.
According to a report from Cryptopolitan, Singapore has already turned down about 100 organizations seeking crypto permits to operate in the country. The country’s Central Bank said that the government must regulate cryptos properly due to their risks to the investors and the economy. Reportedly, the country also asked Binance to stop functioning there indefinitely.
These developments regarding crypto regulation are spiking as the year approaches its final days. Some key crypto players and onlookers have given their advice on the matter. The former Bitmex CEO, Arthur Hayes, told crypto investors to watch crypto regulation developments. He added that the ongoing pressure for these assets to be government-monitored may change the market in the H2 of 2022.
