Is Cryptocurrency legal in Pakistan?

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Is Cryptocurrency legal in Pakistan? In this article on the legal status of Cryptocurrency in Pakistan, we will discuss all these topics that will clarify the legal perspective of Cryptocurrency in Pakistan. To understand the legal perspective of currency in Pakistan, we have divided this article into three parts

1. Legality of Cryptocurrency as a currency

2. Cryptocurrency trading exchanges and their legal status

3. Legality of cryptocurrency mining in Pakistan

The legality of Cryptocurrency as a currency

The legal currency note being used in Pakistan at the moment is called the Pakistani rupee. The name of the Central Bank of Pakistan is the State Bank of Pakistan. The Pakistani rupee is used for all legal and financial general accounting, business accounting, and transactions in Pakistan. The currency notes used in Pakistan are ten rupees, one hundred rupees, five hundred rupees, one thousand rupees, and five thousand rupees.

Is Cryptocurrency legal in Pakistan? And in addition, coins are used in Pakistan; one rupee is two rupees, and this five rupees coin used. Recently, Pakistan printed an honorary note worth seventy-five rupees; however, the State Bank of Pakistan has also allowed transactions with this rupee. The purpose of sharing all these currency notes and coins-related information is to make us think that Cryptocurrency is used for transactions in Pakistan like regular currency notes, which is not the case at all.

Some countries have allowed transactions with Cryptocurrency alongside their regular currency. But Pakistan has no such thing; you can’t buy and sell with them. In Pakistan, we can say that they are not legal, and there is no clear law in Pakistan yet. Please click the link to find the list of countries where Cryptocurrency is legal.

Cryptocurrency trading exchanges and their legal status

Cryptocurrency trading is happening in Pakistan, and there is no ban on it yet. Cryptocurrency trading works the same way as you do in the stock market. Binance, Okex, Coinbase, Kucoin, UniSwap, and PancakeSawp are the leading exchanges in Pakistan for Cryptocurrency trading, and people are working on it.

Is Cryptocurrency legal in Pakistan? All these exchanges also work in Pakistan, and you can trade on them; these are not banned in Pakistan. In Pakistan, there is an organization called PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority); under this organization, if any illegal website works in Pakistan, PTA bans all these kinds of websites. But till now, PTA has not banned any exchange on which cryptocurrency transactions take place in Pakistan.

Is Cryptocurrency legal in Pakistan? In this context, a case has been going on since 2018 regarding the legal position of Cryptocurrency in the Sindh High Court. According to this decision of the High Court, people in Pakistan can trade with Cryptocurrency on these exchanges, but you can’t buy and sell with Cryptocurrency either. You can click on this link to read the detailed decision of the Sindh High Court regarding Cryptocurrency.

The legality of cryptocurrency mining in Pakistan

There are conflicting opinions regarding cryptocurrency mining in Pakistan. There are five provinces in Pakistan, which are named as follows.

Punjab

Sindh

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Balochistan

Gilgit Biltistan

And there are various legal ambiguities regarding the currency of Cryptocurrency in different provinces. For example, the mining of Cryptocurrency in Punjab, Pakistan, is banned yet. FIA (Federal Intelligence Agency), a Pakistani agency, has the authority to legally confiscate your assets regarding mining, like computers, and graph cards, if you mining Cryptocurrency in Punjab.

Is Cryptocurrency legal in Pakistan? And can also file an FIR against you because cryptocurrency mining is still banned in Punjab, Pakistan. On the contrary, if we talk about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province of Pakistan, you can mine Cryptocurrency. Regarding cryptocurrency mining in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in Dec-2020, MPA Dr. Sumera Shams presented a bill in the assembly, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed the resolution progressing toward the cryptocurrencies goals in Pakistan.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Cryptocurrency mining has been legalized there in the context of this bill, due to which you can mine Cryptocurrency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there is no restriction, and many people are mining there. Likewise, if we talk about the province of Sindh, there is a case of Cryptocurrency still going on.

Is Cryptocurrency legal in Pakistan? In the context of its decision in the Sindh High Court, many people are investing in cryptocurrency mining in Karachi, the largest city in the province of Sindh. Government agencies like FIA do not crack down on cryptocurrency mining in Sindh because those dealing with cryptocurrencies are mining assets there.

Because they have a copy of the Sindh High Court’s decision, which they feel protects their cryptocurrency mining business. And the Punjab province, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan, the cryptocurrency mining laws still need to be clarified, and FIA has the authority to take action against the miners and is not allowing the general public yet of these provinces.