This is big news! And its official now, State Bank of Pakistan has declared all sorts of cryptocurrency related trade illegal. Here is the official statement,
Prohibition of Dealing in Virtual Currencies/Tokens
Virtual Currencies (VCs) like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Pakcoin, OneCoin, DasCoin, Pay Diamond etc. or Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) tokens are not legal tender, issued or guaranteed by the Government of Pakistan. SBP has not authorized or licensed any individual or entity for the issuance, sale, purchase, exchange or investment in any such Virtual Currencies/Coins/Tokens in Pakistan.In view of the foregoing, all Banks/ DFIs/ Microfinance Banks and Payment System Operators (PSOs)/Payment Service Providers (PSPs) are advised to refrain from processing, using, trading, holding, transferring value, promoting and investing in Virtual Currencies/Tokens. Further, banks/DFIs/Microfinance Banks and PSOs/PSPs will not facilitate their customers/account holders to transact in VCs/ICO Tokens. Any transaction in this regard shall immediately be reported to Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) as a suspicious transaction.
Source: State Bank of Pakistan http://www.sbp.org.pk/bprd/2018/C3.htm
What does it mean?
According to the recent stance by State Bank of Pakistan, all sorts of cryptocurrency trade, exchanges, and ICOs are illegal. People in Pakistan buying and selling Bitcoin or Ripple or any such coins/tokens may stop dealing in this business. In addition, ICOs that have attracted lots of new startups to fund their business will be struck down as there is no more legal way in Pakistan to launch an ICO.
What will happen to Urdubit?
Pakistan’s biggest and first bitcoin trading platform, Urdubit (Learn more about Urdubit here) is going to be shutdown soon.
We are closing urdubit. Please buy btc instantly as we are cancelling orders on order book or withdraw your PKR immediately.
— Urdubit (@urdubit) April 6, 2018
Before Urdubit closes down, they have asked all their customers to pull out their coins and transfer it somewhere else or cash out.
Its an interesting fact that there is no mention of ban on coin mining, although it is a related business. Lets see.
More updates coming soon…
