Daily Briefing: Spotlight on Trump-backed WLFI’s crypto deal with Pakistan

On that note, let’s get to today’s edition.

Big Story

Bilal bin Saqib is no ordinary CEO. As the head of the Pakistan Crypto Council, Saqib is spearheading a bold financial rebrand for the cash-strapped country. At the annual gathering of the global cryptocurrency community in Las Vegas yesterday, Saqib drew parallels between Pakistan and Bitcoin. He called them “victims of bad PR”. Last week, he met with Pakistani Army chief Asim Munir to outline the future of Pakistan’s digital economy.

The deal: On April 26, Pakistan inked an agreement with World Liberty Financial Inc (WLFI), a crypto firm majority-owned by US President Donald Trump and his family. While the agreement’s details are yet to emerge, it includes grand plans to use blockchain technology to boost financial inclusion and facilitate remittances.

Red lines: As of May 6, when India launched Operation Sindoor in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the WLFI was sitting on a Senate panel’s request, seeking details of its dealings with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Four days later, Trump declared that he had brokered a ceasefire between Pakistan and India. Sources say the message to Islamabad was clear: clean up Pakistan’s image to fit the aspirations of a new financial order. Trump’s dual role — as WLFI promoter and the self-proclaimed political broker — has raised concerns over conflict of interest.

A warning: As Pakistan turns to crypto to solve its economic woes, contributing editor C Raja Mohan warns India must pay close attention. Deregulated assets could be used to fund terrorist activities. More importantly, it may be time for India to reflect on its crypto strategy.

Only in Express

Asia’s biggest slum, Dharavi, is due for a makeover. The Maharashtra government approved a master plan for the Dharavi redevelopment project earlier this week. This would entail the construction of as many as 58,532 residential units and 13,468 commercial and industrial units to rehab eligible tenants within the existing Dharavi area. My colleague Vallabh Ozarkar, who got a copy of the master plan, has more details.

From the Front Page

Cloak & dagger: The National Investigation Agency had arrested an assistant sub-inspector of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Moti Ram Jat, earlier this week. A probe into the matter has found that Jat was sharing sensitive information, including the movement of CRPF troops and suspected terrorist locations, with Pakistani intelligence officers, who were posing as journalists. Jat regularly received payment for disclosing this information.

Alarm bells: A new AIIMS study has flagged a worrying trend: adolescent school students in Delhi are suffering from abdominal obesity and hypertension. Both of these can be risk factors for diabetes and heart disease in their adult years.

Must Read

The climb: American military strategist and thinker Herman Kahn has defined a 44-step “escalation ladder”, with each rung denoting a rising level of conflict. When reframed in this context, India’s Operation Sindoor reached rung nine of Kahn’s ladder, ending at “Dramatic Military Confrontations” before a ceasefire was announced. My colleague Shubhajit Roy deciphers the nature of escalation and what lies ahead for New Delhi, politically, diplomatically and militarily.

Speaking of: Recently, actor Kamal Haasan set off a political storm with his remarks that Kannada “was born out of Tamil.” Assertions of the dominance of one language over another do little for the cause of Dravidian heritage. Columnist Rohan Manoj sheds light on a far more interesting truth about Kannada, Tamil, and their linguistic kinship.

Fit for gods: The development of Mathura’s Banke Bihari temple on the lines of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor has brought Uttar Pradesh’s Department of Religious Affairs under the scanner. Once revived by the Samajwadi Party government, party chief Akhilesh Yadav has accused the Yogi Adityanath government of using the department as a “bid to control temples”. Delve into this political wrangle.

And Finally…

When a Liberia-registered ship sank off the coast of Kerala, the government warned of hazardous contents spilling into the sea. Now, a lone, battered shipping container has washed up on the beach in Paravur, a small fishing hamlet between Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam. What’s inside? Your guess is as good as mine. But for the residents of Paravur, where the water has turned white and foamy, the curiosity has set off a chain of conspiracy theories. It is also keeping people away from buying fish, a daily staple for most households in these parts.

That’s all for today, folks! Happy weekend-ing!
Sonal Gupta

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