One of Pakistan’s four provinces urges the federal government to legalise cryptos

The motion for a resolution stresses that digital currencies are likely to replace paper money in the future.

The assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a north-western province of Pakistan, has become the first legislative assembly to call for changes in the country’s position towards cryptocurrency.

As noted above, Pakistan has so far been relatively slow to introduce new frameworks for digital assets and cryptocurrency. The new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly resolution was introduced on 2 December by Sumerian Shams, a member of the Provincial Assembly and the Pakistani centrist political party Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI.

Aunt Ullah Bangash, another member of the PTI and advisor to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Prime Minister on science, technology and information technology, summed up the resolution as a call for the federal government to „take steps to legalize crypto mining and crypto currency mining in Pakistan“. The bill was passed unanimously:

„The KP Assembly passed the resolution on cryptocurrency and crypto mining, calling on the federal government to take action to legalise cryptocurrency and cryptomining in Pakistan.

Waqar Zaka, president of Technology Movement Pakistan and social media activist who calls himself a crypto influencer, said he was optimistic about the news, tweeting: „One province is done, three more are missing“.

According to local media, the motion for a resolution argues that, based on current trends, digital currencies are likely to replace paper money in the future.

In November, Cointelegraph reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, or SECP, had published a consultative document on the regulation of digital assets. The paper examines the regulatory frameworks already developed in several jurisdictions around the world, describing digital assets as „the beginning of a new era of finance.

Although SECP has focused on assets such as security and utility tokens, as well as privately issued currencies in general, the Pakistani central bank has in the past announced its intention to issue a central bank digital currency by 2025.