THE RISE OF CRYPTOCURRENCY - Newspaper - DAWN.COM - DAWN.com

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have taken the world by storm, bypassing state regulators, providing privacy and unprecedented returns on investments as well as a new vision of financial markets. Despite all the hype, however, few people — especially in Pakistan — really know what’s going on behind the buzz. Eos offers a primer…
Bitcoin, the rogue digital currency, is a fixture in the news. Last week, the formal launch of the very first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund raked in investment worth 550 million dollars on just the first day alone. And Bitcoin prices hit an all-time high, crossing 66,000 dollars per Bitcoin.
Crypto-mania is surging in Pakistan too: we reportedly rank third globally, behind India and Vietnam, in crypto adoption metrics. Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, is reportedly one of our top downloaded apps. And social media is abuzz with investment advice.
Bitcoin enthusiasts are also making a renewed push for crypto-friendly rules and regulations, with the Sindh High Court setting up a committee to look into the matter and to consider the legality of transacting cryptocurrencies.
What started as an underground experiment by a handful of programmers is now a trillion-dollar ecosystem. Bitcoin, valued at 1.2 trillion dollars, exceeds the market cap of Tesla and Facebook, and is significantly bigger than payment giants Mastercard, PayPal and Visa put together. In a recent rally, the combined cryptocurrencies universe reached a value of 2.2 trillion dollars,...



Read Full Story: https://www.dawn.com/news/1655079

Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.