The Pakistani government has confiscated the bank accounts and credit cards of a large number of Bitcoin traders. The cards are allegedly used to trade close to $300,000 through digital asset exchanges, including major platforms.
The country’s Federal Investigation Agency seized 1,064 accounts, according to the Pakistan Observer. The local news source said authorities took the action after a petition. According to the information received, law enforcement took action at the request of the Cyber Crime Reporting Center (CCRC) in Islamabad.
Officials think the accounts handled around $288,000 in transactions. Again, these transactions took place between individuals and several cryptocurrency exchanges. In the statement, it was said that leading sites such as Coinbase, Binance and Coinmama were associated with the issue.
Pakistani authorities disable cards used to buy cryptocurrencies
The news source also wrote that the authorities had disabled the credit cards belonging to the affected individuals. It also reminded citizens of an earlier directive regarding cryptos. Around April 2018, the Central Bank of Pakistan was tasked with monitoring BTC trading through its Financial Policy Enforcement Unit. Despite the directive, traders in the region preferred cryptos like Bitcoin.
Data shows that Pakistanis own around $20 billion worth of crypto. This information belongs to Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). Nasir Hayat Magoon, head of the FPCCI, made this statement at a recent news briefing. Magoon also noted that most Pakistanis receive these coins through peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges. Most of these exchanges are unstructured and lack transaction records. For this reason, the actual amount of crypto traded by Pakistanis may be higher.
No Crypto Ban in Pakistan
Besides, the People’s Bank of Pakistan stated that Bitcoin is not prohibited. The bank’s lawyer told the Supreme Court that the bank had warned it when dealing with digital assets. But he did not explicitly forbid it. In an April 6, 2018 memo, the country’s central bank directed banks and fintech to avoid facilitating crypto transactions.
They would also stay away from customers trading with VCs/ICO coins and mark any activity as unusual in this regard. This directive is the same as the one issued by the central bank of India. The decree banned crypto businesses from doing banking transactions. But in March, India’s highest court overturned this directive.