By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan formally launched a licensing regime for virtual asset firms on Saturday, a step officials cast as the foundation for a broader effort to route billions of dollars in remittances and trade finance through blockchain-based systems.
Bilal bin Saqib, chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, said newly notified rules under the Virtual Assets Act, 2026, create ten categories of licenses covering exchanges, custody, brokerage, advisory services, lending, derivatives, asset management, settlement, issuance and mining. Each carries its own conduct, prudential, technology and anti-money-laundering requirements.
“This means that for any businesses that want to provide virtual asset services in Pakistan, whether they are Pakistani or global, there is now a clear framework, a licensing process, and a legal front door,” Saqib said in a televised address.
The rules bring under state oversight a market that had operated with no legal footing despite what Saqib described as millions of participants. “There were absolutely no regulations; they were non-existent,” he said. “And when such a large economic activity operates outside the law, the risk exists on both sides.”
PVARA said in a separate statement that firms already offering virtual asset services must apply for a no-objection certificate by Sept. 5 or shut down. Under Section 70 of the act, continuing to operate without an application on file after that date constitutes an offense, the authority said. Licensed providers will be required to segregate customer holdings from their own accounts and will be barred from lending or pledging client assets without written consent — obligations PVARA said now carry legal force rather than serving as voluntary commitments. Licensed firms will also gain access to Pakistan’s formal banking system, the authority said.
The rollout follows a May directive from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructing authorities to fully implement the virtual asset framework and tighten oversight of digital finance, part of a wider strategy positioning digital finance, artificial intelligence and information technology as growth drivers for the economy.
Remittance Savings Targeted
Saqib said the government sees regulated stablecoins as a tool to cut the cost of remittances, which total roughly $40 billion annually and still flow mainly through the SWIFT network. He estimated that a one-percentage-point reduction in transfer costs could save the country about $400 million a year, pointing to World Bank data showing the global average cost of sending $200 runs near 6%.
“I consider this technology to be a very big technology to solve the problems of Pakistan,” Saqib said.
He argued the potential extends past traditional remittances to payments received by the country’s freelancers, software developers, designers and other workers earning income from overseas clients. “Our IT exports are worth billions,” he said. “But today we have to ask the question: how will these people get payments from the global economy in 2030? How fast will the settlement be? What will be the cost? How will Pakistan capture that value in the formal economy?”
SME Financing Gap
Saqib also pointed to tokenization as a possible remedy for Pakistan’s shortage of financing for small and medium-sized enterprises, exporters, agriculture, energy and infrastructure projects. He said SMEs account for 90% of the country’s businesses and 40% of gross domestic product, yet SME financing stood at just 850 billion rupees as of March.
Tokenized trade receivables and private credit instruments could link Pakistani borrowers to international capital pools, he said, while tokenized settlement systems and broader distribution could also improve access to investment products for the Pakistani diaspora.
Saqib put the global stablecoin market at more than $300 billion and said tens of billions of dollars in traditional financial assets have already been tokenized on blockchain infrastructure — more than $35 billion excluding stablecoins. He cited BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and jurisdictions including Hong Kong and Singapore as evidence the shift is already underway. “Technology is real. Capital is real. Institutions are participating,” he said. “The real question is whether Pakistan will only consume this shift or understand and shape it for its national interest.”
Saqib described the regulatory rollout as unfolding in three stages: establishing the legal framework, building the market by licensing credible operators and strengthening anti-money-laundering compliance, and developing national use cases.
“Licensing has been opened. Existing activity is being taken into the regulatory perimeter. Today we have reached here,” he said, adding that the next phase would focus on remittances, cross-border settlement, digital exports, trade finance, private credit and tokenized securities. He said each application would be judged against what measurable economic benefit it delivers to the country.
“Pakistan has approached technological revolutions late many times,” Saqib said, adding that the country should build the capacity to understand and regulate emerging technologies rather than adopt them only after other markets have moved ahead. “Today we have launched Virtual Asset Service Regulations, and this is very important. But I hope that we will not remember this moment only as a crypto regulation.”
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