Pakistan's leap towards a digitised economy is indispensable. It has to prepare itself for financial transactions on e-commerce and make it accessible across the board. While the country has managed to broaden cashless business by buoying reliance on debit and credit cards, POS and QR code payments, it has a long way to go as it adapts many more forms of modernised monetary chronicles. Cryptocurrency as an alternative form of payment generated through encryption algorithms is the way to go, and Pakistan cannot sit out on the fences for too long.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb's desire for pushing cryptocurrency as a legal form of digital transaction is well-founded. The use of AI-driven systems such as Bitcoins and crypto encryption is getting universal, and Pakistan as a developing economy cannot afford to lag behind. The only hesitation as far as our legal tender is concerned is its rampant weakness before major world currencies, and the lack of institutional support. It is high time that the central bank authorised its acceptability in the economy, and enable it to be listed on bourses trading as a new virtual form of business. The sale, purchase, exchange and investment of virtual currencies, coins and tokens, will smoothen the economy's connectivity with the outside world, and drive it towards broad-based financial inclusion.
All monetary stakeholders in Pakistan are in need of developing a regulatory framework for digital assets and AI, especially as digital banking gains momentum. Under the reform package being implemented by the FBR, Finance Ministry and banking sector, in coordination with SECP for the 'One-Nation-One-Number' initiative, it would be a formidable task to usher in bitcoins and crypto as legal tender, and throw open Pakistan's products and markets for mass acceptability. Opening Pakistan's markets to cryptocurrency could prove to be a blessing in disguise for the cash-strapped economy, helping it attract investment and facilitate the transfer of technology.
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