On the 17th of March, the first meeting of KPK’s Advisory Committee for Cryptocurrency and Cryptomining was held to review and discuss necessary steps to regulate, legalize and do any necessary legislation on this step.
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As part of the new policy, the KP Crypto Advisory Committee has already decided to pilot two hydroelectric-powered crypto mining farms.
Zia Ullah Bangash, CM KPK’s adviser for science and technology went to Twitter to announce, “The KP Government on the directions and guidance of chief minister Mahmood Khan is taking serious steps regarding cryptocurrency and mining. We’re consulting with all stakeholders and experts for this initiative.”
First meeting of the KP Crypto Advisory Committee held at KPITB. KP Government on the directions and guidance of CM KP @IMMahmoodKhan is taking serious steps regarding #Cryptocurrency and #Cryptomining. We're consulting with all stakeholders and experts for this initiative. pic.twitter.com/HjyIrOc90p
— Zia Ullah Khan Bangash (@ZiaKBangashPK1) March 17, 2021
He said seminars on this subject would be organized to create awareness among people. Directed sub-committees set up to present their suggestions in the next meeting.
Mr. Bangash also thanked social media influencer and a proactive crypto-advocate Waqar Zaka for his contribution and support towards the initiative.
KPK is the first province in Pakistan to launch such a committee and has the provincial government has been trying to get Islamabad on board to legalize and regulate the cryptocurrency in the country.
KPK MP Dr. Sumera Shams went to Twitter on 2nd December to proudly announce that her resolution on cryptocurrency and crypto mining has been passed. The resolution demanded the central government legalize cryptocurrency.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Assembly anonymously passed my resolution on #Cryptocurrency & #Cryptomining. Indeed #Pakistan progressing towards digitalisation to compete the world. Kudos to @ZiaBangashPTI & @fawadchaudhry for their hard work and dedication in the field. https://t.co/id2LUnnGBo pic.twitter.com/TbQvYDsMEl
— Dr Sumera Shams (@SumeraShams) December 2, 2020
According to Mr. Bangash, “It’s really just our government that is not participating right now, people all over Pakistan are already working on this, either mining or trading in cryptocurrencies and they are earning an income from it.”
In January, the Adviser to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Information Technology Ziaullah Bangash also said that the government has decided to set up two cryptocurrencies (bitcoin mining) plants and issued NOCs to private entrepreneurs for making a digital currency.
The No-Objection-Certificate (NOC) passed by the KPK government also allows individuals to mine crypto.
Cryptocurrency might just be what Pakistan needs to raise money for the country’s towering debts. As of 19th March (today), Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency is 1BTC=9,062,632.84 PKR. However as we can see below, just in one month’s time the Bitcoin has seen so much fluctuation in value, making it uncertain.
Source: Morningstar
However, there is some concern as cryptocurrency mining takes a lot of energy and Pakistan is already unable to meet the demands of the industries in the country.
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That said, KPK has the perfect cold weather to use supercomputers to mine the currency. It remains to be seen how the central government views the suggestions put forward by the province.