Pakistan Creates Crypto Regulator to Oversee Digital Assets

Overview

Pakistan has officially established the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) as an independent body to license and monitor virtual asset service providers. This positions the country as a global financial innovation hub – though the move faces IMF resistance over energy subsidies for crypto miners.

Pakistan has established the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) to oversee and regulate the country’s cryptocurrency sector.

Pakistan’s federal government has recently established the Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA) to regulate its digital asset sector. Dawn reports that this independent authority will be responsible for licensing, monitoring, and supervising cryptocurrency businesses. Furthermore, PVARA will ensure compliance with international standards, such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines, a significant move towards Pakistan’s removal from the FATF’s “grey list.”

Following a late-May endorsement by the Finance Ministry, Federal Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb declared: “We must regulate not just to catch up, but to lead.”

“We are creating a future-ready framework that protects consumers, invites global investment, and puts Pakistan at the forefront of financial innovation,” Aurangzeb emphasized. The framework explicitly targets money laundering risks that previously drew FATF sanctions.

Pakistan Pushes Forward Despite IMF Pushback

The Finance Ministry called PVARA’s creation “a critical inflection point” in Pakistan’s digital economy strategy. However, tensions flared when the IMF recently rejected subsidized power for energy-intensive industries, including Bitcoin miners.

This directly conflicts with Pakistan’s May pledge allocating 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity to Bitcoin mining and AI centers, a plan backed by the Pakistan Crypto Council.

Undeterred, Pakistan is advancing international crypto partnerships: In early June, Minister of State for Crypto Bilal Bin Saqib met Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Brandon Lutnick to discuss “tokenization, Bitcoin mining, and Pakistan’s Web3 future.”

Simultaneously, Saqib explored collaborations between the Pakistan Crypto Council and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, followed by White House talks with Robert “Bo” Hines (Trump’s digital assets advisor) on joint crypto initiatives and national Bitcoin reserves.

These diplomatic efforts aim to attract foreign capital despite IMF friction, with PVARA serving as the regulatory foundation for proposed ventures.