Crypto-fraud

The absence of a regulatory regime has made global cryptocurrency exchange a dangerous path to tread. According to reports, Pakistani investors have lost nearly a hundred million dollars in digital currencies. The cybercrime wing of the Sindh FIA has launched an investigation against multiple mobile apps linked to Binance, which is one of the largest global crypto-exchanges in the world. It appears that the environment is entirely unsafe for such investment, and people are easily falling prey to the temptation of making an easy buck. When such frauds take place, it is easy to blame the victim as the government has done in so many other cases, but the real onus lies with regulators of such transactions. In this case, the Security and Exchange Corporation (SECP) should have sprung into action much earlier, but failed to do so. The State Bank of Pakistan should also be regulating not only the corporate sector but also keep an eye on the finances being traded.

The failure of regulation has done much harm to unsuspecting investors who needed clear guidance and instruction about how to invest in cryptocurrency, if at all. Understandably, due to uncertainties within Pakistani markets, and with a rapidly depreciating rupee the people of Pakistan are desperately looking for better opportunities for investment. The number of Pakistanis interested in such investment has increased exponentially in the past couple of years. Crypto business promises huge returns on investment that is hard to come by in normal channels of putting your money to good use. There is also a rapidly spiraling number of online sites that claim to ‘facilitate’ such investments in virtual currencies.

Pakistani digital space has become an open field for all sorts of criminals and fraudsters, something the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) needs to look into now at least by developing a framework to regulate such online sites to prevent potential frauds. The SBP, SECP, and PTA should be collaborating on multiple fronts to forestall such theft of people’s money. We have witnessed multiple times in the past when various dubious entities and individuals claimed to offer unbelievable profits on investment, and common people tended to take the bait. It is about time the federal government took this issue seriously and developed an overarching financial and legal policy framework with guidelines and instruction so that such frauds do not take place. Not much will be achieved by merely forming an investigation committee without bringing on expert handling of issues surrounding cryptocurrency.