Haq's Musings: Karachi Entrepreneurs Launch Urdubit Bitcoin Exchange in Pakistan
"We plan to create a platform (Urdubit Bitcoin Exchange) where people feel safe with the world of Bitcoin and hopefully substitute it for trading locally as easily as Pakistani rupees, while giving everyone an opportunity to invest in this commodity." Zain Tariq, Urdubit, Pakistan
Zain Tariq and Danyal Manzar have launched Pakistan's first Bitcoin exchange called Urbudit, according to media reports.
It represents an attempt to introduce Pakistanis to the digital currency and bring them into the wider Bitcoin community.
As a virtual currency, Bitcoin is created and stored electronically on a computer or mobile device. There are over a hundred digital currencies in use today but Bitcoin is by far the most popular one and accounts for more than two-thirds of the virtual currency market.
Satoshi Nakamoto, a computer programmer, proposed Bitcoin, which was an electronic payment system based on mathematical proof. The idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically, more or less instantly, with extremely low transaction fees.
Unlike national currencies, no one controls Bitcoin. Bitcoins aren’t printed, like dollars or euros – they’re produced by lots of people running computers all around the world, using software that solves mathematical problems. It’s a growing category of money known as cryptocurrency.
Urdubit exchange's main focus is on bringing liquidity to the Pakistani Bitcoin market, and educate the people on the use of the cryptocurrency as a commodity. To accelerate these processes, Tariq and Manzar built a Bitcoin community and advocacy group called BitcoinPk. According to Tariq, Pakistan's Bitcoin community is still small, although active, and rather dispersed.
There's a lot of activity around Bitcoin in Silicon Valley. A number of entrepreneurs, including Pakistanis, are pursuing opportunities offered by digital currencies. One suchSilicon Valley Pakistani entrepreneur is Haseeb Awan, co-founder of BitAccess, who developing Bitcoin ATM machines.
Bitcoin is attracting the attention of law enforcement agencies, tax authorities, and various government regulators, all of whom are trying to understand how the cryptocurrency fits into existing frameworks. US law-enforcement and securities agencies have said at a recent Senate hearing that digital currencies could be legitimate means of exchange, spurring more investments by venture capitalists.
The legality of your Bitcoin activities will depend on who you are, where you live, and what you are doing with it, according to Coindesk. Bitcoin has proven to be a contentious issue for regulators and law enforcers, both of which have targeted the digital currency in an attempt to control its use. It's still early in the game, and many legal authorities are still struggling to understand the cryptocurrency, let alone legislate around it. It's another case of legislation significantly lagging technology. In the end, the currency's future will depend on how many consumers and businesses adopt it and eventual recognition of such transactions by various national governments around the world.
Here's a video explaining Bitcoin mining in Urdu:
Haq's Musings: Karachi Entrepreneurs Launch Urdubit Bitcoin Exchange in Pakistan
"We plan to create a platform (Urdubit Bitcoin Exchange) where people feel safe with the world of Bitcoin and hopefully substitute it for trading locally as easily as Pakistani rupees, while giving everyone an opportunity to invest in this commodity." Zain Tariq, Urdubit, Pakistan
Zain Tariq and Danyal Manzar have launched Pakistan's first Bitcoin exchange called Urbudit, according to media reports.
It represents an attempt to introduce Pakistanis to the digital currency and bring them into the wider Bitcoin community.
As a virtual currency, Bitcoin is created and stored electronically on a computer or mobile device. There are over a hundred digital currencies in use today but Bitcoin is by far the most popular one and accounts for more than two-thirds of the virtual currency market.
Satoshi Nakamoto, a computer programmer, proposed Bitcoin, which was an electronic payment system based on mathematical proof. The idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically, more or less instantly, with extremely low transaction fees.
Unlike national currencies, no one controls Bitcoin. Bitcoins aren’t printed, like dollars or euros – they’re produced by lots of people running computers all around the world, using software that solves mathematical problems. It’s a growing category of money known as cryptocurrency.
Urdubit exchange's main focus is on bringing liquidity to the Pakistani Bitcoin market, and educate the people on the use of the cryptocurrency as a commodity. To accelerate these processes, Tariq and Manzar built a Bitcoin community and advocacy group called BitcoinPk. According to Tariq, Pakistan's Bitcoin community is still small, although active, and rather dispersed.
There's a lot of activity around Bitcoin in Silicon Valley. A number of entrepreneurs, including Pakistanis, are pursuing opportunities offered by digital currencies. One suchSilicon Valley Pakistani entrepreneur is Haseeb Awan, co-founder of BitAccess, who developing Bitcoin ATM machines.
Bitcoin is attracting the attention of law enforcement agencies, tax authorities, and various government regulators, all of whom are trying to understand how the cryptocurrency fits into existing frameworks. US law-enforcement and securities agencies have said at a recent Senate hearing that digital currencies could be legitimate means of exchange, spurring more investments by venture capitalists.
The legality of your Bitcoin activities will depend on who you are, where you live, and what you are doing with it, according to Coindesk. Bitcoin has proven to be a contentious issue for regulators and law enforcers, both of which have targeted the digital currency in an attempt to control its use. It's still early in the game, and many legal authorities are still struggling to understand the cryptocurrency, let alone legislate around it. It's another case of legislation significantly lagging technology. In the end, the currency's future will depend on how many consumers and businesses adopt it and eventual recognition of such transactions by various national governments around the world.
Here's a video explaining Bitcoin mining in Urdu:
Haq's Musings: Karachi Entrepreneurs Launch Urdubit Bitcoin Exchange in Pakistan
