The central bank of Pakistan along with its federal government have both recently suggested that cryptocurrencies and all associated activities be outright prohibited for the foreseeable future. Their report has been forwarded to the local finance and law ministries for further consideration.
This incident comes shortly after the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) of Pakistan issued an inquiry to Binance as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into a scheme in which Binance wallets as well as integrated applications were reportedly utilised to swindle around $100 million from Pakistani consumers.
A multi-million dollar scam
Imran Riaz, the head of the FIA Cyber Crime Zone Sindh, tweeted a letter dated January 6th which was written to Binance's Cayman Islands headquarters and the general manager of Binance Pakistan, Humza Khan.
According to the letter, there had been countless complaints regarding an online financial scam which had occurred within Pakistan involving bogus applications that robbed innocent individuals of millions of dollars. It further stated that as of right now, the investigation has discovered fake accounts on 11 different applications which include UG, TASKTOK, 91FP, BX66, BB001, OKIMINI, FXCOPY, HFC, MCX, and more. During the investigation, over 25 Binance wallets were discovered to be connected to the fraudulent applications.
Essentially, the scammers had instructed Pakistani users to open a Binance account and subsequently transfer cash from their respective Binance wallets into the application. Users were then able to join various Telegram groups where administrators would provide price action recommendations until the users had placed significant sums into the applications. The applications would suddenly and mysteriously 'crash' shortly afterwards and the funds were stolen.
Furthermore, according to the FIA, the average investment per person in these applications was about $2,000, and each application had roughly 5,000 clients, implying that scammers gained a massive profit of approximately $100 million. For its part, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has stated that he is willing to work alongside the FIA and various other global regulators to further legitimise crypto.
&lsquoCrypto ban' is imminent
It seems increasingly apparent that the Pakistani government and its central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan, will outright prohibit cryptocurrencies. According to various local media channels and outlets, the supposed total ban suggestion would penalise any and all cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase and all related crypto-oriented activities. Currently, the prohibition is only a proposal, and it is uncertain whether it will be fiercely contested as authorities continue to analyse it with the tentative date for the final decision being said to be around mid April, 2022.
Additionally, the SHC (Sindh High Court) has been investigating the legality of virtual currencies for many years now, but this is the first instance of the central bank taking an official position pertaining to the cryptocurrency asset class. The SHC had previously requested that the asset class be regulated by the government in October 2020, however with the new recommended prohibition, none of that would be necessary if crypto in Pakistan is banned completely.
Many local crypto enthusiasts and people of influence have therefore repeatedly asked the government and the central bank to re-evaluate their decision, as Pakistan currently ranks among the top five countries worldwide in terms of crypto adoption. Others have stated that more regulation and educational efforts instead of a complete blanket ban would be the best way forward and that blame should be directed towards the scammers themselves and not to crypto as a whole since fraudulent activities such as this can occur via stocks, bank transfers and all kinds of other methods as well.
