Pakistani-American and an alumnus of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Dr. Muneeb Ali announced on Twitter that he has raised $150 million to build the largest ecosystem of Bitcoin applications through “Trust Machines,” a New York-based entity he co-founded recently.
In a series of tweets, Dr. Muneeb Ali said the company seeks to unleash what they consider “the true potential of bitcoin”. Furthermore, investors in the round include Breyer Capital, Union Square Ventures, Digital Currency Group, GoldenTree, Hivemind, among others.
According to Dr. Muneeb, Trust Machines aims to convert bitcoin’s trillion-dollar value into more productive capital and grow an economy of bitcoin applications.
Read more: US Bitcoin business: boom or bane?
Major news: we’ve raised $150M for a new entity to build the largest ecosystem of Bitcoin applications.
Bitcoin can be a productive asset and final settlement layer for web3 apps.
Say hello to Trust Machines: https://t.co/pRRxN90R1B
— muneeb.btc (@muneeb) February 3, 2022
Therefore, Trust Machines intends to use the funds generated to engage Bitcoin engineers to develop solutions that will allow investors to participate in the budding decentralized financial industry.
“Trust Machines will build upon the success of Stacks, create new Bitcoin apps, and contribute to underlying platforms, including Bitcoin itself. We’ll hire Bitcoin Core devs and unleash Bitcoin’s true potential for web3 apps. It’s time to build on Bitcoin!” Dr. Muneeb also tweeted.
Bitcoin ban in Pakistan
Internationally, people and major tech companies are heavily investing in Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency. However, in Pakistan the situation is different. To clarify, earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) proposed a ban on all forms of cryptocurrency.
According to SBP, the risks involved in trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto coins far outweigh the potential benefits. As a result of the High Court order, SBP formed a “risk-benefit analysis” committee. The committee recently announced that cryptocurrencies were depleting national foreign reserves and encouraging illicit financing.
Therefore, the committee recommended a complete ban on virtual currencies and other related activities in Pakistan. However, Pakistan does not plan to introduce its own official digital currency to replace existing digital money. Authorities are also mulling proposals to block even the websites dealing in cryptocurrencies.
Read more: Pakistanis warn of ‘technology dharna’ over crypto ban