Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population exceeding 225.2 million. The Economy of Pakistan is the 23rd-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), and 42nd-largest in terms of nominal gross domestic product. Pakistan is considered a developing country and is one of the Next Eleven, a group of eleven countries that, along with the BRICs, have a high potential to become the world's largest economies in the 21st century. Despite being an underdeveloped country, its 88% population has access to internet/broadband services.
Pakistan has seen a boom in trading and mining cryptocurrency, with interest proliferating in thousands of views of related videos on social media and transactions on online exchanges.
Pakistani blockchain marketplace completes record a $30M raise with total funding of $37.8 million to date, Bazaar Technologies is among Pakistan’s most capitalized startups.
Bazaar claims to be the leading B2B marketplace platform for small merchants in Pakistan, serving 750,000 merchants spanning 400 towns and villages. Many of Bazaar's users are small ‘mom-and-pop’ grocery stores (locally known as “kiryana” stores) which use the platform to purchase inventory from suppliers.
Pakistan's government has made moves to develop a more permissive regulatory apparatus for the nation’s crypto sector in recent months.
In November, Pakistan’s Securities and Exchange Commission published a consultation paper exploring the benefits of crypto assets and tokenisation. The document also welcomed industry feedback on how local regulations should be developed. In March, the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa announced it would host two hydro-powered crypto mining farms for a state-backed mining pilot.
With all the positive news popping from Pakistan about cryptocurrency and how to adopt it as a means of legal transaction between individuals and businesses, there can be no doubt that bitcoin cash and other cryptocurrency will soon be normalised in this part of the world.