ONCE a week Ghulam Ahmed, 38, takes time out from his cryptocurrency consulting business to log into a WhatsApp group with hundreds of members eager to learn how to mine and trade cryptocurrency in Pakistan.
From housewives looking to earn a side income to wealthy investors wanting to buy crypto mining hardware, many barely understand traditional stock markets but all are eager to cash in.
"When I open the session for questions, there's a flood of messages, and I spend hours answering them, teaching them basic things about cryptocurrency," said Ahmed, 38, who quit his job in 2014, believing it was more profitable to mine Bitcoin.
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.
While cryptocurrency is not illegal in Pakistan, global money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has called on the government to better regulate the industry. Pakistan is on the FATF's grey list of countries it monitors for failing to check terror financing and money laundering.
In response, the federal government has set up a committee to study cryptocurrency regulation, which includes observers from the FATF, federal ministers, and heads of the country's intelligence agencies.
"Half the members had no clue what it was and didn't even want to understand it," said committee member Ali Farid Khwaja, a partner at Oxford Frontier Capital and chairman of KASB Securities, a stock brokerage in Karachi.
"But the good thing is someone set up this committee. The relevant bodies in the government who need to get things done are supporting it, and the promising thing is nobody wants to stand in the way of technical innovation."
And the head of the country's central bank, Reza Baqir, said in April the authority was looking into another digital asset, a central bank digital currency, and its potential for bringing transactions happening off the books into a regulatory framework.
"We hope to be able to make some announcement on that in the coming months," he told CNN.
Even the education sector has caught on.
In February, one of the country's leading universities, the Lahore University of Management Sciences, received a grant worth $4.1 million (£2.9m) to study the technology from Stacks, a blockchain network that connects Bitcoin to apps and smart contracts.
These moves can't come soon enough for cryptocurrency advocates.
Institutions have at times treated those involved in the trade of cryptocurrency with suspicion, worried about possible associations with money laundering.
Ahmed said he was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and charged with money laundering and electronic fraud twice, though the charges did not hold in court.
On one occasion, he said, the FIA seized a cryptocurrency mining farm he had set up in Shangla, in Pakistan's northern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which ran on its own hydroelectric power. The FIA did not respond to a request for comment.
Waqar Zaka, a former TV host with more than a million followers on YouTube, has been lobbying with officials for years to not only legalise the industry, but have the government invest in it. Zaka, like Ahmed, had set up a cryptocurrency mining farm running on hydroelectric power.
Earlier this year, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's provincial government tapped Zaka and Ahmed to be on a committee studying how it can profit from such ventures. In March, the group announced it was looking into setting up new mining farms using Zaka's facility as a template.
The committee was dissolved in June, with the provincial government saying federal authorities should handle any new policies on cryptocurrencies.
Despite the challenges, Pakistan's crypto boom shows no signs of stopping.
Pakistan-based social media groups explaining how to trade and mine cryptocurrency abound, some with tens of thousands of followers on Facebook. On YouTube, cryptocurrency videos in Urdu have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
Online cryptocurrency exchanges, most based outside Pakistan, like Localbitcoins.com, have hundreds of Pakistani traders listed, some with thousands of transactions.
Apps like Binance and Binomo, which track and trade cryptocurrency, have more downloads than some of the country's largest banks' apps, according to web analytics company SimilarWeb.
"You cannot stop crypto, so the sooner Pakistan regulates things and joins the rest of the world, the better," Ahmed said.
THE BANK OF ENGLAND (BoE) kept its key interest rate at 4.25 per cent on Thursday, citing persistent inflation and rising risks from US tariffs and the conflict between Israel and Iran.
The decision, which was widely expected, came a day after the US Federal Reserve also left its interest rates unchanged, pointing to continued inflation and slowing growth in the United States.
BoE governor Andrew Bailey said the UK economy remained weak but signalled that rate cuts were possible later this year.
“Interest rates remain on a gradual downward path, although we’ve left them on hold today,” Bailey said. He added, “The world is highly unpredictable.”
Official figures released Wednesday showed that UK annual inflation eased to 3.4 per cent in May, less than expected. It remains well above the BoE’s 2 per cent target.
In a statement, the central bank pointed to a recent rise in energy prices, citing the “escalation of the conflict in the Middle East” as a factor.
Despite holding rates steady, analysts expect the BoE to cut at its next meeting in August.
“The Bank of England opens the door for a cut in August as it keeps one eye on energy prices,” said Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK.
The Bank of Japan also kept its interest rate unchanged this week.
Earlier on Thursday, Norway’s central bank unexpectedly cut rates, and the Swiss National Bank reduced its rate to zero per cent. Both cited uncertainty in the global economic outlook.
Last month, the Bank of England cut its rate by 0.25 percentage points as early signs emerged that US tariffs were beginning to affect growth.
The UK economy shrank more than expected in April, partly due to a tax rise on domestic businesses.
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Choksi, accused in a bank fraud case in India, has been arrested in Belgium and plans to appeal for release, citing medical grounds. (Photo: Getty Images)
FUGITIVE jeweller Mehul Choksi accused India of orchestrating his kidnapping to extradite him on fraud allegations, with his lawyers telling London's High Court on Monday (16) that only India had the motivation and resources to do so.
Choksi – who was arrested in Belgium in April – is wanted in India over his alleged involvement in one of India's biggest bank frauds at Punjab National Bank, which in 2018 announced it had discovered alleged fraud worth $1.8 billion (£1.29bn).
Choksi is separately suing the Indian government in London, arguing that the state was responsible for his kidnapping in Antigua in 2021, when he says he was abducted and taken to Dominica in an attempt to extradite him to India.
India's lawyer Harish Salve said in court filings that "there is no evidence of India having anything to do with the alleged events".
Choksi alleges he was beaten in a failed attempt to extort a false confession and implicate India's political opposition, which he says points to state involvement in the incident.
Choksi's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told the court: "The evidence points inevitably to India being behind this – they had the motivation, they had the resources."
Monday's hearing, the first since Choksi filed his case last year, was held to decide when India's application to throw out Choksi's lawsuit on state immunity should be held.
(Reuters)
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The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) stood at 2.6 per cent in March, down from 2.8 per cent in February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. (Representational image: iStock)
UK INFLATION eased slightly in May but remained above expectations, according to official figures released on Wednesday, adding to speculation that the Bank of England will keep interest rates unchanged this week.
The Consumer Prices Index fell to 3.4 per cent in May from 3.5 per cent in April, which had marked a 15-month high, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Analysts had expected a bigger drop to 3.3 per cent.
The release came after separate data last week showed that the UK economy contracted more than expected in April.
Gross domestic product fell by 0.3 per cent, driven by a tax increase on UK businesses and a sharp decline in exports to the United States linked to president Donald Trump's tariffs.
Political responses
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said, "Our number one mission is to put more money in the pockets of working people."
Mel Stride, the finance spokesperson for the opposition Conservatives, said inflation staying "well above" the Bank of England's 2 per cent target "is deeply worrying for families".
The Bank of England is expected to leave its key interest rate unchanged at 4.25 per cent when it announces its decision on Thursday.
Mixed price movements
"A variety of counteracting price movements meant inflation was little changed in May," said Richard Heys, acting chief economist at the ONS.
"Air fares fell this month, compared with a large rise at the same time last year," he said. However, higher prices for chocolate and meat helped to offset the fall in motor fuel costs.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said, "The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran has impacted the oil price in the past week, with UK motorists already bracing themselves for hikes and airfares also expected to soar."
Interest rate outlook
The Bank of England cut interest rates last month by a quarter point, its fourth reduction in nine months, as tariffs continued to weigh on economic growth.
Analysts expect the central bank to maintain that pace of easing until at least early next year.
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said, "The fact that inflation has fallen back slightly... should bring some comfort to the Bank of England as it considers the next move for interest rates."
"They were expecting inflation to remain well above target at this point in the year, so it won't necessarily spark a rethink on rates.
"Before the announcement, the markets were expecting two more cuts by the end of the year, and there's a reasonable chance this won't move significantly on the back of today's news," she added.
A NEW study revealed that India has become the top source of foreign-born founders behind America’s most valuable start-ups, highlighting the country's growing influence in the global technology sector.
Research by Stanford University’s Venture Capital Initiative showed that Indian entrepreneurs have founded 90 "unicorn" companies - start-ups valued at over $1 billion - in the US.
According to the report, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) dominate the rankings, with IIT Delhi leading the pack by producing 16 unicorn founders, including Jyoti Bansal who created AppDynamics. IIT Bombay follows closely with 14 founders, while IIT Kanpur has contributed 12, including the team behind cloud computing giant Nutanix.
Among the 165 US unicorn founders who studied at Indian universities, 81 per cent pursued either computer science or engineering degrees, the report noted.
“Indian entrepreneurs have become essential to the US’s innovation economy. India has contributed 141 unicorn founders who received their undergraduate education from Indian universities, again leading all countries outside the US. Most impressively, startups founded by Indian entrepreneurs who relocate to the US are 6.5 times more likely to achieve unicorn status than the average,” author of the report, Ilya A. Strebulaev, told Eastern Eye.
This pattern of immigrant entrepreneurship isn't unique to the US. In Britain, foreign-born founders play an equally vital role in the start-up ecosystem, according to data from Financial Times-backed tracker Sifted.
Despite foreign-born residents making up less than 15 per cent of the UK's population, they account for 39 per cent of the country's 100 fastest-growing companies. The USwas the most common country of birth for foreign-born founders in the UK, followed by Italy, France, Canada, India and Germany.
Asian entrepreneurs have been particularly successful, founding major unicorns including Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Hopin. Data shows that 24 per cent of Britain's unicorn companies now have foreign-born founders, with entrepreneurs coming from 28 different countries across five continents.
According to the Stanford report, California's unicorn companies employ approximately six per cent of their workforce in India on average, making the country the largest international talent pool for these billion-dollar firms. This creates valuable professional networks that often serve as launching pads for future entrepreneurs, as employees gain industry experience before starting their own ventures.
“India's technical education system has created a "national asset" in the global knowledge economy. The success of Indian entrepreneurs in the US also strengthens India's own start-up ecosystem through knowledge transfer, investment flows, and mentorship connections. As technology continues to drive worldwide economic growth, India's position as a primary source of high-impact entrepreneurs looks set to become even more significant in the years ahead,”
Strebulaev, who is the David S. Lobel professor of private equity at Stanford Graduate School of Business, pointed out.
Immigrant entrepreneurs are not just contributing to the US’s innovation boom - they are driving it, the report said. It analysed 1,078 founders behind 500 US unicorns and found that 474 founders came from abroad, representing 65 different countries across six continents.
Beyond individual founders relocating, entire companies are moving to the US to access its unique scaling advantages. The research showed that eight per cent of US unicorns - 88 out of 1,108 companies - were initially founded elsewhere before relocating to US soil. The benefits of this move are dramatic: Israeli start-ups that relocated to the US were nine times more likely to achieve unicorn status than those that remained at home, while Indian companies saw a 6.5-fold improvement in their chances.
“Successful examples of this trend include messaging platform Slack from Canada, gaming engine Unity from Denmark, and meditation app Headspace from Britain. These companies discovered that whilst great ideas can emerge anywhere, the American ecosystem offers unparalleled resources for growth,” the report said.
“Location choices within America also matter significantly. While California remains the top destination, international founders are increasingly strategic about where they establish operations. Israeli entrepreneurs often favour New York over California, and 15 per cent of all US unicorns have moved their headquarters at least once between founding and reaching billion-dollar valuations.”
Analysis of 191 California-based unicorns revealed that only 38 per cent of their 375,000 employees actually work in California. Nearly a third are employed elsewhere in the US, while another third work overseas, creating a truly international workforce.
When measuring entrepreneurial productivity per capita, Israel leads dramatically with 43.4 unicorn founders per 100,000 first-generation immigrants, followed by New Zealand at 37.3 and Belgium at 24.4. By comparison, India produces 2.5 unicorn founders per 100,000 immigrants, though it still contributes the highest absolute number.
The innovation ecosystem in the US thrives precisely because of this global talent mix, the research noted. With nearly equal numbers of US-born and immigrant founders, researchers describe this as "powerful complementarity".
Meta has announced the appointment of Arun Srinivas as the new Managing Director and Head of its India operations. He will assume the role from 1 July 2025, reporting to Sandhya Devanathan, who was recently promoted to oversee Meta's operations in both India and South East Asia.
Expanded role for Srinivas
In his new position, Srinivas will be responsible for aligning Meta’s business, innovation, and revenue priorities to better serve partners and clients across India. His focus will include strengthening strategic relationships with advertisers, developers, and brands, as well as continuing to support Meta’s long-term growth in the region.
Srinivas will lead efforts to drive the company’s India charter and will play a key role in supporting initiatives around Reels, AI, and messaging services, which are key strategic priorities for the tech giant in the country.
Background and previous experience
Srinivas is currently the Director and Head of Ads Business for Meta in India, a position he has held since joining the company in 2020. In that role, he has worked with many of India’s top advertisers and agency partners, contributing to Meta’s growth in the region.
An alumnus of IIM Kolkata, Srinivas brings nearly 30 years of experience in sales and marketing. He has held senior roles at Hindustan Unilever, Reebok, OLA, and investment firm WestBridge Capital.
Leadership comments
Commenting on the appointment, Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President for India and South East Asia, said: “Arun’s track record in building high-performing teams and fostering strong partnerships makes him the ideal leader to drive Meta’s continued investment in India.”
Meta considers India a key growth market and continues to focus on expanding its presence through innovations in AI, Reels, and WhatsApp.