Matthias Samuel
Bitcoin is a crypto-currency, a form of electronic cash. It is a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or single administrator that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries.
Its Price fluctuation;
- January 2009 basically zero to none
- February 2011 $1.00
- December 2012 $13.00
- January 2014 $750 — $1,000
- March 2015 $200 — $300
- January 2017 $800 — $1,150
- February 2018 $6,200
- June 2019 $12,637
Legal status of the Bitcoin;
The legal status of Bitcoin varies substantially from state to state and is still undefined or changing in many of them. Whereas the majority of countries do not make the usage of bitcoin itself illegal, its status as money (or a commodity) varies, with differing regulatory implications.
As per the guidelines – which are applicable to companies involved in transmitting Bitcoin and other digital currencies – issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2013 “Internet-based payment services that allow third party funding from anonymous sources may face an increased risk of [money laundering/terrorist financing].” The FATF concluded that this may “pose challenges to countries in [anti-money laundering/counter terrorist financing] regulation and supervision”.
As for Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced on April 7, 2018 that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies/coins are banned in Pakistan; therefore all such organizations and institutions which are dealing in any crypto-currency must be deemed as illegal entity.
The State Bank stated that neither it will get involved in any dispute with regard to crypto-currencies nor it will facilitate any transaction for it.
In addition, the SBP also issued an official notice on its website and also posted the news on its official Twitter account.
The Bitcoin is accepted in a lot of Major Companies such as:
- Wikipedia
- Microsoft
- Subway
- Amazon
- AT&T
Bitcoins ATMs;
The first Bitcoins ATM (Automated Teller Machine) in the United States went online on February 18, 2014; however, it was removed 30 days later. In April 2014, Coin-me became the first Bitcoin ATM provider with a money transmitter’s license.
As on July 2019, there are 5,041 Bitcoins ATMs worldwide according to the figures released by the Coin ATM Radar.
Bitcoin ATMs worldwide.
July, 2016: 676
July, 2019: 5041(Coin ATM Radar) pic.twitter.com/a2cZoRcXYA
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) July 2, 2019
Countries Number of Bitcoins ATMS
United States 3,273
Canada 690
Austria 267
United Kingdom 250
Spain 89
Czech Republic 67
Switzerland 58
Russia 57
Italy 45
Colombia 42
Germany 36
Mexico 12
Malaysia 9
South Africa 5
Japan 3
Saudi Arabia 2
Brazil 1
France 1
