Pakistan province to build block reward mining farms

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A province in Pakistan is going into block reward mining. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recently set up a committee to look into digital currencies and in one of its first actions, it has moved to set up two block reward mining farms. The move comes despite the existence of an official ban by the Pakistani government on digital currencies.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s government has been approached by several entities seeking to set up block reward mining farms in the province, according to Zia Ullah Bangash, an advisor to the provincial government on technology and science.

“People have already been approaching us for investment, and we want them to come to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, earn some money and have the province earn from that as well,” he told Reuters.

However, the government will not stand by and will set up its own mining farms. According to Bangash, despite the official ban, block reward mining and digital currency trading are thriving.

“It’s really just our government that is not participating right now, people all over Pakistan are already working on this, either mining or trading in cryptocurrencies and they are earning an income from it,” he commented.

Aside from serving as an extra source of revenue for the provincial government, Bangash believes it will allow the government to have better oversight over the industry. “We are hoping to bring this to a government level so things can be controlled and online fraud or other scams can be prevented,” he told the outlet.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recently set up the KP Crypto Advisory Committee, the first of its kind in Pakistan, to advise the government on digital currencies. The committee met for the first time last week, as Bangash revealed on Twitter.

First meeting of the KP Crypto Advisory Committee held at KPITB. KP Government on the directions and guidance of CM KP @IMMahmoodKhan is taking serious steps regarding #Cryptocurrency and #Cryptomining. We're consulting with all stakeholders and experts for this initiative. pic.twitter.com/HjyIrOc90p

— Zia Ullah Khan Bangash (@ZiaKBangashPK1) March 17, 2021

“The first meeting of the advisory committee for cryptocurrency and crypto mining in KP convened on Wednesday to review and discuss necessary steps to regulate, legalize, and necessary legislation,” he told a local business news outlet.

The committee also broke down the various sectors it needed to focus on, forming a sub-committee for each. One of these, the blockchain committee, “will review various technical matters. The scope is reviewing the use of this technology in various government departments.”

“The weather in KP is beneficial for crypto mining. KP has innumerable hydropower potentials and all these facilities are essential for crypto mining,” he remarked.

See also: TAAL’s Jerry Chan presentation at CoinGeek Live, The Shift from Bitcoin “Miners” to “Transaction Processors”