State Bank of Pakistan Governor: ‘Crypto Has No Good Use’

Governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Riza Baqir announced a surprising yet very interesting opinion on cryptocurrencies. The announcement took place in a panel discussion on the 13th Karachi Literature Festival.

Dr. Baqir discussed during the panel that the technology behind crypto is “absolutely useful” and that it has the potential to solve a lot of the world’s current financial problems. Yet, he also said that every new thing has benefits and risks. He claimed that it is his job to keep the balance and make judgments of whether these benefits overweigh the risks.

The panel speaker also questioned the lack of visibility in crypto as a risk, saying:

There is no way that the regulator or a law enforcement agency has visibility on who is doing transactions and for what purpose. And, therefore, around the world, there is a lot of misuses [of cryptocurrency], including human rights violations, trafficking of people, money laundering and many other things

He also discussed that SBP’s number one goal was to promote financial inclusion and so it could limit the misuse of the financial system. He also mentioned that this goal became more important with Pakistan being on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

In other words, with Pakistan being under watch since 2018 for many claims of money laundering and funding terrorism crimes, crypto is not illegal. Yet, FATF has called on the government to regulate this industry.

It is still worth mentioning that Pakistan has seen a boom in trading and mining crypto. Yet the governor insisted that crypto has more risks than advantages, and the SBP has been working to develop a suitable approach to deal with cryptocurrencies in the future.