&w=3840&q=100)
Trump's crypto firm silent over shady talks with Pakistan as Islamabad looks to overcome 'bad PR'
The sheer silence of World Liberty Financial Inc (WLFI) over its communications with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has fuelled concerns regarding the Trump family using political ties for business gains read more
Pakistan Crypto Council CEO Bilal Bin Saqib admitted that the country's recent crypto-friendly moves are purely political and aimed at overcoming what he termed as 'bad PR'.
Meanwhile, the sheer silence of World Liberty Financial Inc (WLFI) over its communications with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has fuelled concerns regarding the Donald Trump family using political ties for business gains
Notably, the WLFI in April inked a deal with the Pakistan Crypto Council following communications with PM Sharif. Now, a US Senate subcommittee has asked the firm, in which the majority of the stakes are owned by the Trump family, about its communication with the Pakistani government that led to the deal. However, the firm has maintained silence.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Pakistan draws parallel between crypto, Islamabad's 'bad PR'
Meanwhile, Saqib, a top crypto official in Pakistan, has indicated that the country's crypto dealings with the US are aimed at boosting Islamabad's PR. Simply put, he said the moves are more political than economic in nature.
'Both Pakistan and Bitcoin have suffered from bad PR. We are looked at as being dangerous, risky and unstable. But once we look beyond these headlines, we can see a lot of potential, resources and talent. So Pakistan is looking for allies,' he said at the annual gathering of the global cryptocurrency community in Las Vegas.
Saqib last month held a meeting with Chief of Army staff Asim Munir, who has now been promoted to the rank of field marshal following standoff with India, to spell out the ambitions of the country's crypto industry.
Pakistan's newfound love for crypto
Many see Islamabad's newfound interest in crypto as a way to grow close business ties with the family of US President Donald Trump.
Saqib himself admitted that Pakistan's crypto move was inspired by the US.
'We want to thank the US because we are getting inspired from them,' Bilal said.
It's to be noted that Trump, in March, had signed an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Moreover, the association of top political figures of the US, deemed close to the president, in crypto business has raised eyebrows. Trump's sons Donald junior and Eric as well as grandson Barron are part of the WLFI team as 'Web3 Ambassador'. Web3 wallets allow access to apps and store cryptocurrencies.
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff's son Zach Witkoff is one of WLFI's co-founders.
On April 27, Zach wrote on social media that the crypto deal will 'bring diversity and financial inclusion to the next generation in Pakistan and beyond.'
Within days as the standoff escalated between India and Pakistan following the terror attack in Pahalgam, Trump claimed that he helped broker a ceasefire between the two nations.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Pakistan too has endorsed Trump's narrative, whereas India has disputed it, saying the understanding was reached strictly on bilateral terms and the US had a limited role to play.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
21 minutes ago
- Time of India
Nashik's Deolali Camp police register case against dismissed soldier for abetting mutiny
Nashik: The Deolali Camp police have filed charges under section 159 of the BNS against former soldier Chandu Chavan from Dhule for abetting mutiny. Additional charges have been levied against him under BNS sections 353(1)(A), 161, 163, and 168, based on a formal complaint. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now These sections address statements intended to incite mutiny, abetment of assault on superior officers, encouraging desertion, and unauthorised use of military attire. In 2016, Chavan had crossed the Line of Control and remained in Pakistani custody for four months. His subsequent conduct, deemed unsuitable for a serviceman, led to his dismissal from the armed forces. A junior commissioned officer stationed in Nashik lodged the complaint, citing Chavan's YouTube videos containing incorrect and misleading information aimed at inciting mutiny. Despite his dismissal, Chavan continues wearing govt uniform. The complainant referenced specific videos where Chavan makes unfounded accusations against military officers and discourages the youth from joining defence services. Authorities said Chavan has been spotted in various cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, and Lucknow, wearing military-style attire with a banner while begging on the streets, allegedly spreading misinformation to gain public sympathy. Senior inspector Jayant Shirsath, of the Deolali Camp police station, confirmed that efforts are on to locate and apprehend the accused in connection with the registered case.
Time of India
24 minutes ago
- Time of India
India draws new red line against terror, hope operation brought lesson for adversary: CDS Gen Chauhan
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Singapore: Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan on Saturday said India's Operation Sindoor has drawn a "new red line" of intolerance against terror, and expressed hope that the military action has brought "some lessons for our adversary also".In response to queries related to the recent operation and the idea of "strategic stability" in India-Pakistan ties, during an event held here under the Shangri-La Dialogue , the CDS further said, it takes two hands to join to clap together, "hopefully they understand this".Operation Sindoor was launched early on May 7 to destroy nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people subsequent retaliations to Pakistani offensives were carried out under this four-day military conflict between India and Pakistan had brought the two nuclear-armed neighbours to the edge of a wider conflict that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May a query on the lesson learned from the conflict, Gen Chauhan said India used indigenous systems and platforms from other countries as well during the operation."We were able to penetrate air defence as long as 300 km with pinpoint accuracy and targets, airfields and infrastructure, deep inside Pakistan. That indicates the functionality of the equipment," he Chauhan and several other defence chiefs or representatives from different countries delivered addresses during the seminar - 'Defence Innovation Solutions for Future Challenges' held as part of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a key summit of Asia."Instability in the world is on the rise courtesy non-state actors and terrorists. They play a major role in providing the spark for conflicts," Gen Chauhan said in his address."The emergence of new domains of warfare, information, cyber, electromagnetic spectrum and the cognitive domain are fast blurring traditional lines of conflict and increasing the potential for unconventional attacks and hybrid warfare," he also underlined that to survive in the future, military organisations will have to be inventive, innovative and CDS also said that "India remains committed to contributing to global peace and security, through responsible behaviour, a unique geographical position, historical experience and development approach to security challenges".Later, he fielded a range of questions during the seminar, including on Operation Sindoor and its implications."What India has done, politically, they have drawn a new red line of intolerance against terror, and this I hope, this particular operation, that should bring about some lessons for our adversary also, and hopefully they learn that this is a limit of India's tolerance," Gen Chauhan said."We have been subjected to this proxy war of terror for almost about two decades and more, and we lost lot of want to put an end to it," he whether India feels there is a strategic stability after the operation, the CDS said "to bring about strategic stability.. it takes two hands together to clap, join together, hopefully they understand this and we can then look at things".On a query on the planned integrated theatre commands, Gen Chauhan said, "We cannot give any timeline for these integrated theatre commands".The CDS said "we have achieved some modicum amount of success in this particular endeavour of ours, some of it was exhibited during the recently-concluded operation, in which at least we had joint planning, joint intelligence, joint working together, logistics, etc"."We will have a look at how did it play out, create something that is more India- centric...," the CDS added without in his address, Gen Chauhan spoke of the factors that are changing the character and nature of warfare."Predicting the future is perilous to say the least, all what we can do is to talk about trends, actually. I believe, the future challenges that we may face, arise out of the complexity of the emerging geopolitical dynamics and the unprecedented... in the march of technology," he the rise of unmanned systems and do-it-yourself kind of kits for warfare is reducing the economic and human cost of warfare, leading to "increasing propensity to use of force", the CDS is happening "without formal declaration of wars", he democratisation of cutting-edge technologies and the resultant proliferation of weapon systems, is "empowering non-state players, including netizens, citizens", in today's deeply connected world, and the capacity to shape thoughts, perceptions, and hence the environment, he his address, he emphasised that technology is reshaping warfare, wars and his address, he emphasised that today, non-linear simultaneous operations are impacting the core principles of transition of weapon systems from subsonic to supersonic, hypersonic, long-range precision weapons and maturing of stealth technologies, fractional orbital bombardment systems and drones with swarm technologies are "giving celerity, speed and velocity a new meaning, enabling engagment of targets anywhere and anytime", he and autonomous system along with a concept of man-unmanned teaming and the advancement in robotics will soon introduce the concept of combat between man and machines, or even between machines and machines, the CDS technologies are enabling secure communications, and advancing computing which will add to the complexity of warfare, and hence challenges for preparing for it, he said."We are simplifying the procurement procedures so that we are able to fight today's war with tomorrow's technology rather than yesterday's systems," the CDS added.
Time of India
24 minutes ago
- Time of India
Moments after Trump applauds X as free speech haven, platform melts down in one of its worst outages yet
Right after Donald Trump praised X as a free speech app, it stopped working for many users. People couldn't post or see new updates. The app later said it was fixed, but this was the third major issue in a week. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads FAQs Just after Donald Trump called X a " free speech platform ", the app completely broke down. People using X said the app was only showing posts from 24 hours ago. Some users saw the login welcome screen, even if they were already logged in. Lots of people couldn't see their timelines or share any posts, according to problem began around 3:45 p.m. ET, and many users started reporting issues on Downdetector, a site that tracks app problems. At the peak, around 4:15 p.m., there were 25,000 outage reports from users around the world. X's own Developer Platform said it was a "site-wide outage" and that some parts of the API were not working. By 6:15 p.m., the number of complaints dropped, but hundreds of users were still having issues.X later said that "all systems are operational", meaning the app should be back to normal. The outage happened shortly after Elon Musk left his role as head of the fictional Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), at the White House, according to The Daily Beast a press conference, Trump praised Musk for his work and called him someone who has given "service to America without comparison". Trump also said Musk runs 'the largest free speech platform on the internet.' This wasn't the first time X went down recently. It was actually the third outage in just over a week, as per earlier outage happened on Monday because of a fire at a U.S. data center owned by X. Another outage last week was blamed by Musk on a "massive cyber attack". Since Musk bought X in 2022, crashes and tech problems have gone up a lot. This is partly because new tech workers at X were messing with the X API, which helps other software work with X, as per The Guardian that Musk left the White House, people might think he'd have more time to fix problems at his companies, like X. But Trump joked that "Elon's really not leaving", hinting he'll still be around in some way. No official reason has been given yet for what caused this huge crash on X, as per The Daily Beast reason is unclear, but it happened shortly after his praise and during ongoing tech this was the third major crash in a week, one happened because of a fire, and another was blamed on a cyberattack.
