ISLAMABAD: Blockchain is one of the most attractive emerging markets in Pakistan as related startups raised $13.2 million in the third quarter of the current fiscal, WealthPK reports.
According to a recent report of Invest2Innovate (i2i), a consultancy firm, the amount accounted for 20.15% of the total $65.5 million raised by different startups.
The revenue generated by blockchain was 6.4% higher than that of e-commerce startups in the third quarter of 2022. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, blockchain startups secured the third position in terms of investment.
Ahmed Manzoor, the chief executive officer of the Pakistan Blockchain Institute and ANZ Technologies, told WrealthPK that blockchain is a new technology in Pakistan but it is attracting investors. He said that four years ago people did not know about blockchain but they came to know about it during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that blockchain is a backhand technology but most of the investors did not show interest in it as they wanted easy and instant profit. “People think that blockchain is a cryptocurrency business but this perception is not correct. Cryptocurrency is a very small part of blockchain technology. The main branches of blockchain are supply chains and transaction data used in different sectors where business records are maintained in digital form,” he added.
Ahmed Manzoor said that manufacturing products locally was needed the most. He said that local products of blockchain technology would benefit the national economy on sustainable bases. “Currently, Pakistani freelancers are just serving international blockchain firms and getting very little benefit from this huge market,” he added.
He said that people should be informed about the big difference between blockchain and cryptocurrency. “Cryptocurrency doesn’t represent the whole concept of blockchain technology at all,” he said.
Ahmed Manzoor said that blockchain would be a necessary part of daily life business in the near future. “It will make business records more sustainable and secure. It helps to save financial records and business ledgers in a secured digital file,” he added.
He said that blockchain would be more affordable and time-saving as compared to the conventional procedure of maintaining records. “Digitisation and technology are making our professional and daily life more convenient. For example, an e-mail is sent within 15 seconds while manual correspondence requires 15 days,” he said.
Ahmed Manzoor said that in the next few years, blockchain would be an unavoidable element of daily life just like the internet. “Now we can’t imagine easy life without the internet,” he added.
He said that blockchain was the next world business idea. “We just need to see the real potential of this technology. The people, who are interested in blockchain, need to shun the concept of easy profit,” he told WealthPK.
