How a Pakistani celebrity and crypto billionaire challenged his government | Crypto Stories Ep. 7

Pakistan May reality shows Trends start. Karnewale Mr. Daredevil. Before 2014 I was running this crazy reality TV show in Pakistan which was trending and it was the most popular youth reality TV show. And because of that I got this huge fan following who were always looking up to me. And YouTube got banned in Pakistan. I was introduced to this amazing social media platform that used to pay in bitcoin. So I had no other option beside to monetize my content through that social media platform. I started to realize that basically bitcoin is giving me financial freedom. The amount that I AM earning from YouTube is nothing in comparison with the capital gains I was getting from bitcoin. But no one was believing me in Pakistan. The media people and everyone. And I wanted to share this with everyone that listen, if I am shifting from business class to first class, you should ask me from where I'm getting all this money from. And no one was believing me. So I said I'm not going to report to any boss or any 9 to 5 kind of job if I am already making good money from my home. So I better start studying bitcoin rather than doing my regular media work. And also so I always had this image of Pakistan in my mind that I need to bring money in Pakistan. But then I realized that I had this feeling that countries having more bitcoin at some stage will be the richest country in the world. So then I started moving towards this thing that if I'm making money, I should be telling my government that listen, I'm already making money. I can shift anywhere in the world right now, drive a Ferrari and have a very good life. But I want to serve my country and I want you to understand bitcoin in Pakistan. Unfortunately, the governments used to ban almost everything from YouTube to 3D printers because the people sitting in government were not that much aware of the technology. So bitcoin actually got the first ban in 2017 and the ban was unconstitutional. So I filed the petition that according to our Article 18, the right of trade and business, they cannot stop it since bitcoin or crypto is just a software. And that is the reason I started posting videos against government. Also that they should allow Pakistani people to invest in cryptocurrency and if they need any kind of support related to blockchain intelligence, my team and the students of different universities will come into play. So it was a public litigation case. The honorable court actually accepted it considering that I was fighting for the entire nation. They really said that, listen, how about we allow you to become the leader of one of the committees in up north area where they allowed me to run this huge crypto mining farm on hydropower. During COVID situation my friends started telling me that listen, people will trust you if you are a success story yourself. If you are not making money, how they will see that you can help Pakistan. Then I started doing the most Arab kind of thing, showing everything off that listen, I have this, I have that. Then people started believing oh how he's getting such kind of money. And during COVID I challenged the government of Pakistan that listen, right now bitcoin is at $5,000. If government only invest 1%, I am taking the risk. You can take away my property, my car, my everything. If this fails, you don't need to take credit from any other country. That played out in everyone in Pakistan. Even the kids of 12 and 13 years started telling that listen, it was such a simple investment to make Pakistan like shine again. Right now there's a stay order that authorities cannot arrest any crypto miner or anyone hold in crypto until and unless they are involved in money laundering or other illegal activities.